The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-10-23 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

•
OVERREACHING.—Yesterday, at, the Police-office, a lad
named Thomas Dawson, who drives a donkey cart about the
the pier-head plying for luggage, appeared to charge David
M‘Neill, an impudent fellow with a crutch, with having
swindled him out of ss. The complainant stated that the pri-
soner got a job from a gentleman to carry five large trunks,
and got him (complainant) to take them with his cart.
M'Neill received from the gentleman his pay, and then ran
off with the whole money. He (complainant) only wanted
half of it, with which he would be satisfied, giving the other
half to the prisoner for getting him the job.
Prisoner.—Whoy, sur, he's tellin' fause all time. I got
Is. 6d. for the first two chisteses, and he got Is. 6d. for the
other three.
Mr. Hall.—(to complainant.)— He was to have some of it?
Complainant.—Yes, sir, but he got all the money and ran
away, and I never got none on it.
Prisoner.—Whoy dount you tellt' truth of wonst. Didn't
we get 3s. for the whole? Whoy, sur, he'S wain' a Luse
oath.

Complainant.—There was four or five on 'em all in a gang
together determined to cheat me.
Mr. Hall said he understood it very well. The prisoner
must pay half the money, 2s. 6d., or be retained in custody.
PocKET PICKING.— Yesterday, at the Police•office, a re-
spectable man named Haswell, appeared to charge a lad
named Goodwin with attempting to pick his pocket. The
complainant stated that he was proceeding from chapel the
evening bet Ore, when be felt, some one's hand in his pocket.
He immediately turned round and seized the prisoner, and
what made the case more aggravating, the prisoner immedi-
ately struck him a violent blow on the eye which puffed it up.
Mr. Hall thought the lad could hardly reach complainant's
face. 11? complainant said one would imagine nut, but as-
sured Mr. Hall that it was the fact. Other two boys were
with him, who had made their escape with his pocket hand.
kerchief. Mr. Parkinson said the prisoner was very well
known in Manchester as a thief. Mr. Hall committed him
fur three months to the House of Correction..

A TASTY BIT. Yesteillay, at the Police-office, one of
the constables of Pownall-square Mal ket appeared to prefer
a complaint against a man named Scarlett and his wife, for
making a disturbance on Saturday night in the market.
The constable on preferring his complaint said,—this man
came into Pownall-square Fish Market on Saturday night,
and went up to the different stalls creating a disturbance.
He was drunk, and the people told him to go away. At
length he went to one stall, and took up a large eel, and bit
the tail off, sod the woman at the Ralf ordered him away.
He then went to another stand, and got hold of a haddock,
and wanted to serve it the same way. I then wanted to put
him out of the market, but he pushed his fist in my face,
and I was obliged to go into Vauxhall-road for an officer to
take hint to Bridewell. He then, when the officer came,
behaved so roughly that the officers were obliged to drag him
along like a sack of flour. His wife assisted him as much as
she could. The male prisoner 'said he was a ship-keeper,
and had been up all ni,!ht, and got a glass of grog, which
took effect on him. He certainly did bite the fish, but it was
only for "a bit of a lark," and he intended to buy itkfter-
wards, when the officer came and knocked hint down. IP
An individual in court gate the prisoner a good character
for an industrious man, when sober. Mr. Hall said he might
have forgiven him if he had not struck the officer. As it
was, he must pay ss. for being drunk. The woman was dis-
charged.

On Wednesday evening Dr. Kane delivered his seventh
lecture, upon the application of fatty bodies to the arts.
I have this evening to bring under your consideration a
very important portion of organic substances, as well consi-
dered by themselves as in their varied application to the arts.
The bodies to which I allude, are those which are termed
fatty bodies, and which constitute one of the most important
natural substances of all those which are met with in chemis-
try. They present to us a remarkable degree of variety, be-
ing derived as well from the animal as from the vegetable
kingdom; and we have them of all degrees of consistency,
from the most perfectly solid to the most perfectly fluid. We
meet with theta likewise of various degrees of chemical con-
stitution. No matter from what kingdom of nature derived,
the fatty bodies are all compounds of carbon, hydrogen. and
oxygeo; and it is a remarkable fact, that in all the tatty bo-
dies which we derive from the animal kingdom- that the fatty
substances, no matter where we obtain them, are invariably
destitute of azote. There they differ from all the other ani-
mal substances, in being free from nitrogen, and therefore
attach themselves much more to the bodies in the vegetable
kingdom. In the fatty bodies, therefore, we have the point
of union between the animal and the vegetable kingdoms, as
they are common to each, and have the same properties. We
are fortunately placed, with regard to the chemical history of
these bodies, (and not only are they of paramount impor-
tance when applied to the arts, but also to the laburatoi y of
of the chemist) for we have a degree of knowledge of them
which we have not of any other department of organic che-
mistry. Fatty bodies, no matter whence derived, may be
looked upon as a-mixture of two bodies, one of which melts
at 120°, but which at ordinary temperature is brittle, and may
be reduced to a powder : the other is liquid, and remains so
far below the temperature of melting ice. These two bodies,
one of which is solid and the other liquid, mixed in different
proportions, give all the different fats and oils which exist.
For instance, mutton fat consists almost entirely of the solid
substance; but the oils which are iu the liquid state contain,
as their principal ingredient, the liquid material of the fats,
and are almost destitute of the solid matter. These two con-
stituents, into which all fatty substances may be separated,
have been termed by their discoverer stearine and elain.
The stearine, in the state of purity, is almost as hard as wax.
It does not soil the fingers ;—it requires a temperature far
above that of the hand to soften it,—and, indeed, is scarcely
a fatty body at all. If- we obtain perfectly pure elain,
and it is extremely difficult to obtain it perfectly free from
the solid material, we find it a perfectly colourless and
transparent oil, and that it is wholly indisposed to soli.
ditv, for which reason it has been used with considerable
advantage to oil the pivots of chronometers and watches
where they may be exposed to considerable cold, in which
oil would be liable to freeze, so as to retard the motion
the machinery. In order to obtain steariue and elain, it
is only necessary to take any fat whatever; and, generally
speaking, when we want to ofitain either of these coustituen ts,
we have recourse to those fats in which they exist in the
greatest quantity. If we want to obtain stearine we take
mutton fat, where it exists in great plenty, cut it into slices,
and plac it between the folds of blotting paper, and submit it
to the pressure of a considerable power; the oily properties
of the fat are forced out and absorbed by the paper, and the
stearine remains behind. By changing the blotting paper,
and again submitting the stearine to pressure, until we cannot
force out any more oil, we obtain it perfectly pure. A more
perfect method is Suggested by the action of ether upon
animal fats. Sulphuric ether dissolves both stearine and
elain, but elain more readily than stearine; and the conse-
quence is, if we put some mutton suet into ether, and leave
the ether to digest upon the fat, we shall find that the ether
will dissolve the whole of the elain, and will not dissolve
much of the stearine. If we put the mixture upon a filter,
and wash the stearine with a little additional ether, in order
to carry away any impure -particles, we shall have stearine
perfectly pure. Stearine has been applied to the manufac-
ture of candles. A very curious chemical phenomena is
produced by the combustion of a candle. A candle consists
of a quantity of fatty substance, surrounding a wick which
has the power, by virtue of capillary attraction, of drawing
liquid tallow up its pores. The action which ensues, when
the wick is inflamed, is nearly similar to that which happens
when oil is dropped upon the red hot bricks in the retorts of
the gas works, and the same decomposition goes on in each
instance. The great difficulty in the candle, is the following:
—ln order to have a candle perfectly good in theory; the
combustion should go on exactly so that there should be no
more of the tallow melted than is required to supply the
wick, and that the lower part of the wick should not be too
much cooled. With the tallow we find that, in consequence
of the great quantity of claims which it contains, the melt-
ing goes on too rapidly. It is evident that the disagree-
able effect of this rapid melting of the tallow, may be got rid
of in proportion es we get rid of the elain which it contains.
To do this, a very ingenious artifice has been employed, to
manufacture what are called stearine candles. In order to
effect it a large quantity of tallow is melted. The stearine
and the elain are only mechanically united, so that if we
allow a mass of tallow to cool until it has been only half
solidified, it is evident that the first portion of the tallow
which solidifies will be that which it is the most difficult to
melt. Therefore, by melting a considerable portion of
tallow, and then allowing it to cool one-half,. we get, upon
pouring away the tallow, which is still liquid, very good
stearine, fully equal to spermaceti and the inferior kinds
of wax, for the purposes of candle making. All acids have
a tendency to combine with stearine and claim and to gene-
rate peculiar compounds, whose immediate nature it is not
now my province to enter upon. But the arsenious acid will
combine with these substances, and generate a poison of the
most dangerous kind. Now, when arsenious acid is mixed
with tallow, it will produce a candle as solid and white as
that manufactured from pure stearine. The result has been
the manufacture and sale. of candles containing arsenic. I
have myself analysed several, which contained great quanti-
ties, so much so, that if several of them were burned in a
room the air would be very much contaminated, and great
injury might be done. Not only so, but I have seen certifi-
cates accompanying, candles (and have myself obtained them),
which candles, when analysed, were found to contain arsenic
in considerable quantities, and I was told that the bare sus-
picion was a vulgar prejudice. The public cannot be too
cautious iu the introduction of such dangerous articles into
their domestic economy, and should by all time means in their
power endeavour to put an end to the manufacture of such
candles. When we come to examine more accurately the
constitution of stearine and elain, we find that they resemble
in a very remarkable degree the classes of bodies so fami-
liar to chemists, under the name of the ordinary salts. The
base of these salts is so novel compared-with what we have
hitherto examined, that it is necessary to examine it. We
find. that by the action of chemical agents upon stearine,
that it is separated into two bodies, the one acid, and the
other baSic. 'llme acid, as it is not obtained from any body
but stearine, is termed stearic acid, —the base with which
stearic acid unites is glycerine. We owe the discovery of
glycerine to the most illustrious chemist who ever existed—
Scheele. Stearine therefore is a stearate of glycerine.
Main likewiee contains an acid, which is termed the oleic
acid ; and this is likewise united with glycerine. In fact, the
different varieties of facts are mixtures in which glycerine is
the common base. The acids differ. Let us consider what
must be the consequence of this basic fotmation of salts.
We see that we may be able to expel the acid by some other
more powerful acid. On this we found the manufacture of
soap. The use of soap, and the principle upon which its ap-
plication Es a cleansing material is founded, is the following.
lime great majority of the substances which soil or dirty our
wearing apparel. are insoluble in water, and hence pure
water could not remove them. But they are soluble in alka-
lies, and we could employ an alkali to remove them; but as
an alkali would be likely to destroy the clothes, it is useful to
reduce its power, and this is dime by combining the alkali
with some substance which has got a sufficient power to coun-
teract the injurious effects of the alkali, but which is innocent
enough to enable the alkali to comae into play, wherever it is
necessary. By taking soap, which is a combination of
these fatty. bodies with alkalies, when it comes into contact
with any dirty substance it gives Out the alkali in proper
portions. Thus the utility of soap depends upon its being a
salt. The manufacturer of soap depends upon this property.
Taking, in the first place, the manufacture of the white soap,
—time manufacturer takes white tallow, which contains a great
portion of stearine, and soaps differ in four ways. They differ
in the proportion in stbich they contain the alkalies—potash
and soda. They differ in their appearance, because soda
uniformly gives bard soaps, whilst potash generally,
.gives
what are called the soft soaps. Potash never gives a hard
soap, and soda never produces a soft soap. Again, the stea-
rine soaps are harder, and time elain softer or much inure
liquid; we • thus have a very hard soap arising from two
causes, and a very soft soap from two other causes. In order
to make the hard soap, the manufacturer takes the tallow and
melts it in a vat, containing water, for the purpose of prevent-
ing the tallow irons burning. In some instances, the tallow
is incited by the aid of steam. The alkali is then poured
upon it, which alkali is a carimnate of soda. It is dissolved
in water, and a quantity of quicklime added. The quicklime
takes the carbonic acid and the soda is set free in a caustic
state. The stearic acid is a very weak acid, and could not
expel the carbonic acid, hence it is necessary to have caustic
soda. When the soda is added to the vat in which the tallow
is melted, it is stirred and the fire applied. As it is heated,
the alkaline portions of the liquor disappear, and as they
do, the manufacturer adds more and more of the alkali, until
the soap will not take up much more. When the soap has
boiled sufficiently, which the manufacturer knows by the
state of the pellicle upon the top, and other sytnptoms, the
soap is run into frames, where it is allowed to cool, and then
it is cut up into the wedges in which it is seen in commerce.
There remains behind, in the vat, a large quantity of glyce-
rine, which is street to the taste, and there is a quantity of
soap in it. It is necessary to separate the soap still better
from the liquor, and this is done by taking advantage of a
remarkable property of soap, that it is soluble in pure water
but not in salt and water. By adding salt to the water the
soap floats upon the surface of the water, and is readily sepa-
rated. In order to shew, that soap is the union of an orga-
nic acid with au alkali, it is only necessary to take the soap
,and add to it any acid whatever. Thus, if we add a small
quantity of sulphuric acid, there immediately separates a
quantity of a whitish powder, which floats, and we gradually
collect, as a clot, upon the upper surface of the liquor. We
shall flail that this is owing to the separation of stearic acid.
In fact, the solution of soap in water is never perfectly transpa-
rent, for so slight is the affinity of the alkali of soap, that if we
take distilled water which has been exposed fora certain length
of time to the atmosphere so as to imbibe a certain quantity
of carbonic acid, and dissolve soap in it a portion of the
carbonic acid will unite with some of the alkali, and there is
a portion of the stearic acid set free, which gives to the
water a certain milkiness which cannot be removed by the
most careful filtration. Time /same soap which dissolves
nailkily in water, will dissolve transparently in spirit. The
transparency of the solution of soap in spirit is taken advan-
tage of for what is termed in commerce the Naples soap.
'!'he soap is dissolved in strong spirit, and the spirit is scented
by the addition of a volatile oil. The liquor is poured into a
mould, and forms a jelly which, as the spirit evaporates, be-
comes a hard transparent mass. This is the process of time
manufacture of the hard white soap, which is au uniou of the
hard stea,sine with soda. Now there are a variety of other soda
soaps which are made use of. In the first instance, there is a
very important branch of manufacture which constitutes the
yellow soap of commerce. At one time it was made of very
ordinary fatty matters, bad tallow, or any such substance too
much injured to make good white soap, and there was a con-
sistency given to them by resin. This made a good soap, but
it was coloured yellow. Of late years there has been a con-
siderable quantity of palm oil introduced into commerce,
which has given quite a new impulse to the manufacture. It
is, more properly speaking, the butter of the palm. This
palm oil consists of stearine and elain, mixed with a remark-
able red colouring matter which is of a resinous nature, and
is merely intermixed by means of a spitit. We can sepa-
rate the palm oil into its constituents, and we can get the
oily principle pure. This in commerce is not done, and the
cheapness of the manufacture has introduced a soap of the
soda kind, as good for all practical purposes, and differing only
in colour horn the tallow soap which is so high in price. In
the manufacture of the soft soap, precisely the saute process
is followed as that which I have described.
The combinations of the stearic acid with the alkalies are
soluble in water when we except the slight opalescence which
arises from the presence of the carbonic acid which water
contains. Stearic acid will combine with the metals and
earths, but they are all insoluble in water, and cannot be
used in cleansing; but they are used for other purposes of
great importance. The manufacture of soap of lime is of
great interest. In order to make this. it is only necessary to
take a solution of soap and water, and to add to it some lime
water. A copious white precipitate is formed, which is a
combination of stearic acid with lime. This soap of Hine is
in fact the stearate of lime, which is always generated when
a solution of soap is added to water containing lime. Me
i water in this neighbourhood, and in fact the majoratiyi
wa-
ter, contains traces of carbonate of lime, and
in
when we add soap to it, we obtain a copiousn
andw bile
the action of
:Waters containing lime are termed "tars,ater.
Hard
soap forms a very excellent test for hard w 4

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