IMPROVEMENTS IN PRE- SERVING AND OTHERWISE TREATING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, AND IN THE PURIFICATION OF OILS EMPLOYED THEREIN, AND WHICH MAY BE USED FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Alexis Francisse Boboeuf, of Paris, in the
French Empire, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRE-
SERVING AND OTHERWISE TREATING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, AND
IN THE PURIFICATION OF OILS EMPLOYED THEREIN, AND WHICH MAY BE USED FOR
OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 26th January 1858, and dated the 28th July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Alexis Francisse
Boboeuf at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th July 1857.
I, PIERRE ALEXIS FRANCISSE BOBŒUF, of Paris, in the French Empire,
Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PRESERVING AND OTHERWISE TREATING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUB-
STANCES, AND IN THE PURIFICATION OF OILS EMPLOYED THEREIN, AND WHICH MAY
BE USED FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is, 1st, the preservation, the concretion, the
hardening, and the coloring in various shades of inert animal substances
(or substances of animal origin), the embalming of bodies, the preserving
of skins, and the coloring of silk, wool, leather, bone, ivory, feathers, &c.;
2nd, the destruction of insects, ants, fleas, bugs, &c., and the preserva-
tion of animal and vegetable life from insects, the curing of disease in
vegetable life generated or produced by or from insects or animaculæ,
such as oidium, potato disease, &c., the preservation of substances from
destructive insects, the preservation of wood and of ships, the purification
of all crowded habitations and places, such as hospitals, schools, barracks,
&c. I employ for the above purposes vegetable and mineral oils, oils con-
taining saponifiable acid, oils capable of forming soluble salts in water,

page_text: and of acids derived by substitution obtained from saponifiable acids con-
tained in essential, vegetable, or mineral oils.
And my Invention includes the purification of essential, vegetable, and
mineral oils containing saponifiable oils, without distillation, by separa-
tion.
The bulk of these oils is always of less density than that of the acid oils
extracted from them by saponification with caustic alkalies. It will be
readily conceived then that if these oils are extracted, the essential non-
saponifiable, oils freed from the heavy substances which increased their
density, will acquire a degree of lightness in proportion to the weight or
quantity of the oils extracted.
To obtain a good alkaline salt for the preservation of alimentary sub-
stances, I employ essential oils obtained from the distillation of some
vegetable or animal substance, as before described. These essential oils
are to be well stirred, when three times the weight of water to the quantity
of alkali employed is added, and the whole mixed for about ten minutes.
The mixture is then allowed to rest for twenty-four hours, when the lower
part of the liquid which contains the salt of soda is drawn off by a pump
until the liquid begins to get disturbed, the clear liquid is then put on
one side, and all the disturbed part is drawn off into another receptacle,
and there allowed to remain until it becomes clear. At this point the
essential oils do not combine, and the supernatant parts do not hold more
salt of soda.
Now, to preserve alimentary substances, a phenate of soda (phénate do
soude) proceeding from some of these essential oils is employed. The
meats or other alimentary substances are placed in this phenate, and
there left about forty-eight hours, after which they are taken out and ex
posed to the air to dry; or, in order to hasten the process, a more con
centrated liquid is employed. Before the substances thus preserved are
eaten, they must be boiled over a slow fire for about 12 hours, to dissolve
and remove the phenate of soda which has been used to preserve them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters l'atent, filed
by the said Pierre Alexis Francisse Bobœuf in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Pierre
ALEXIS FRANCISSE BOBŒUF, of Paris, in the French Empire, Chemist, send
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Pierre Alexis Francissc Boboeuf, Her special licence
that I, the said Pierre Alexis Francisse Boboeuf, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Pierre Alexis Francisse
Bobœuf, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PRESERVING AND OTHERWISE TREATING ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SUB-
STANCES, AND IN THE PURIFICATION OF OILS EMPLOYED THEREIN, AND WHICH MAY
BE USED FOR OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Pierre Alexis Francisse Boboeuf, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Pierre Alexis Francisse Boboeuf, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
The object of my Invention is, first, the preservation, the concretion;
the hardening, and the coloring in various shades of inert animal sub-
stances (or substances of animal origin), the embalming of bodies, the
treatment of skins, and the coloring of silk, wool, leather, bone, ivory;
feathers, &c.; second, the destruction of insects, such as ants, fleas, bugs,
&c., and the preservation of animal and vegetable life from insects, the
curing of disease in vegetable life generated or produced by or from in-
sects or animalculæ, such as oidium, potato disease, &c., the preservation
of substances from destructive insects, the preservation of wood and of
ships, the purification of all crowded habitations and places, such as
hospitals, schools, barracks, &c. I employ for the above purposes
vegetable and mineral oils containing saponifiable acid oils capable of
forming soluble salts in water, and of acids derived by substitution ob-
tained from saponifiable acids contained in essential, vegetable, or mineral
oils.
And my Invention includes the purification of vegetable and mineral

page_text: essential oils containing saponifiable oils, without distillation, by separa-
tion.
Having thus set forth my Invention in general terms, I now proceed to
describe the same more fully.
The distillation of mineral or vegetable substances containing essential
oils, which again contain saponifiable acid oils, such as wood, peat, &c.
amongst vegetable and coal, different kinds of schist, anthracite, &c.
amongst mineral substances, produces, according to the mode of the dis-
tillation and the species of apparatus employed, a great number of
products, such as acetic acid, alcohol, paraffine, coke, naphtha, &c., which
are always accompanied by essential oils, or by tars containing such oils,
which they yield up when properly distilled.
These essential oils, whether obtained by direct distillation of the
natural substance or by special subsequent distillation of the tar product,
are first obtained in complex mixtures, and are the amalgam of a large
number of compounds of carbon and hydrogen, many of which appear
to be acid; but whatever be the nature of the products of the distillation
of the various mineral or vegetable substances, most of the essential oils,
which they yield contain in a larger or smaller quantity acid and
saponifiable oils, which, whether in the form of salts, natural acids, or
otherwise, possess the most remarkable properties. These substances have
hitherto been but imperfectly examined as simple acids, or as acids de-
rived by substitution, and have been entirely disregarded as salts possess-
ing such properties. The careful study which I have made of these sub-
stances in this respect will open a new and extensive field to science, and
'will render immense service to medicine.
PRESERVATION OF INERT ANIMAL SUBSTANCES, EMBALMING OF BODIES, DESTRUC
TION OF LIVING ANIMAL SUBSTANCES, PRESERVATION OF WOODS AND SHIPS,
LIMING OF SEED GRAIN, ALL. BY MEANS OF ESSENTIAL OILS, VEGETABLE OR
MINERAL, WHETHER IN THE STATE OF ORDINARY ESSENTIAL OILS, NEUTRAL
OR ACID, OR IN THE STATE OF ALKALINE SALTS.
General Considerations on Essential Oils, Vegetable and Mineral,
especially on those of Coal, Peat, Wood, and Schist.
When any vegetable or mineral substances (especially those just
mentioned) are distilled, a mixed mass of essential oils is obtained, either
directly from this distillation, or subsequently by distillation of some tarry
product in which they are contained. This mixture is composed of
carburets of hydroden of different densities, of which some are neutral;
others acid, and capable, in combination with caustic alkali, of forming
various salts. All these essential oils, neutral or acid, and whether in
their natural condition or in the condition of alkaline salts, have not only

page_text: the property of preserving or destroying all animal substances but also
that of imparting this same property to water, in which they partially
dissolve, giving a solution which may be employed for the preservation
or destruction of animal substances, when an agent of great strength is not
required. These essential oils, however, cannot be used indifferently,
but must be applied to the purposes indicated, each according to its own
peculiar properties. Thus, the acid and saponifiable oils contained in all
the oils of coal, peat, wood, and schist, oils having generally a density of
6 to 8 degrees (Beaume), i. e., 8 degrees denser than water, appear usually
poisonous and highly corrosive, and must not therefore be employed for
the preservation of substances intended for food, but t may be very properly
applied to the destruction of insects, miasmas, &c. The neutral oils, on
the contrary, (which are lighter than water, and already known under
the name of benzine, &c.,) are of the opposite character.
The raw essential oils obtained directly by single distillation, when
composed of neutral and acid essential oils, can be readily separated by
treating them, either cold or at a moderate heat, with concentrated caustic
alkali, as will.be hereafter explained.
Having made these general observations on the essential oils of coal,
peat, wood, and schist, I will now point out the means of preserving or
destroying animal substances. For this purpose four processes may be
adopted-First, immersion; second, fumigation or spontaneous evapora-
tion; third, dissolution of the essential oil in water; fourth, division of
the oils by means of inert bodies.
First, to obtain a good result from the immersion of the substance to
be treated, it should be allowed to soak in the essential oil at least for an
hour, after this it should be exposed to the air. After four or five days,
when the operator observes that the substance is becoming hard on the
surface, and has lost the smell of the essential oil in which it was
immersed, the substance may receive a coating of salad or other such oil
in which has been previously dissolved some more solid grease, or a coat-
ing of simple gelatine. In the fixed oil a little essential oil of a suitable
kind may be put for the purpose of keeping away the flies. In this way
animal substances, nutritive or other, may be very well preserved..
Second, the process by spontaneous evaporation or by fumigation, which
I am inclined to regard as the best, consists in placing the animal sub-
stances to be treated in a closed chamber, having a temperature of from
35 to 40 degrees Centigrade, which is maintained for about six hours, in
order to drive off the moisture from the animal substances. This moisture
must be allowed to escape through an aperture made in the upper part of
the chamber. When this time has elapsed the aperture alluded to is
closed, and a temperature is maintained sufficient to evaporate the

page_text: essential oil with which it is desired to impregnate the substances. The
oils used should be of very small density (such as benzine, which may be
chosen if the oils of coal are employed), and placed in a broad flat vessel,
like a plate, within the chamber in which the animal substances are
suspended. Heat may be applied beneath this vessel, if the temperature
requires elevating. Thus the vapour of the essential oil is kept in contact
with the meat during a longer or a shorter time, according to the quantity
treated, but during at least two hours in every case; afterwards the sub-
stances are exposed to the air and painted or coated, as in the first method.
Anatomical specimens may be prepared by placing at the bottom of a
decanter or other such, vessel about of an inch deep of benzine
suspending the specimen above the benzine in the decanter and closing
the mouth hermetically. The fumigating process is conducted as before
in a chamber which is kept at a temperature sufficient to prevent the
condensation of the vapour. Into this chamber is introduced a supply of
vapour of some essential oil, with which may be mixed any harmless
aromatic essence to give any required flavour to the meat; this vapour will
penetrate the substance to be preserved if the proper temperature is
maintained. For this process a space of twelve hours should be allowed,
after which the substance should be exposed to the air and coated with
the solution or with gelatine as before, which will give a fine appearance
to the preserved substances.
Third, to obtain an aqueous solution of essential oil either of phénic
acid, creosote, or oils formed of these, it is sufficient to add one per cent.
of the oil to any quantity of water and agitate the mixture for about ten
minutes. This solution, which I have obtained very well with the oils
of coal, wood, peat, and schist (the only ones I have tried), preserves meat
very well, provided that it be renewed once or twice, and that the meat be
allowed to soak in it at least twelve hours. If, however, it is desired to
preserve substances of considerable bulk, the solution must be renewed
two or three times, or a stratum of the oil must be left on the surface of
the water, in order by agitation to renew in the water the essential oil
taken up by the animal substance, for the water appears to me to dissolve
but a very minute quantity of essential oil. These aqueous solutions will
be of great utility in many cases. The aqueous solution of commercial
phénic acid, for instance, may be employed with advantage in the purifica-
tion of the air of crowded apartments, as the free phénic acid which it
contains volatilises and is sublimated in the same time as the water. This
solution too may, in a great variety of cases be substituted for the solutions
of acetate of lead, of tannin, of alum, &c. On the other hand, aqueous
solutions of essential oils, when freed from acid oils, may be employed to

page_text: cure all those diseases of trees, shrubs, and vegetables generally which
are occasioned by animalculae or insects, the solutions of acid oils being
likely to injure the vegetable by its too great energy.
Fourth. In the fourth process the essential oils, neutral or acid,
vegetable or mineral, are divided by means of inert bodies, such as sand,
earth, sawdust, lees, hemp, rags, &c. These substances are mixed with
the proper essential oil to the proper degree of saturation. If the sub-
stances to be preserved are numerous, they may be placed together in a
suitable receptacle and sprinkled with the essential oils, divided as above,
and each layer of the substances to be preserved should be covered with a
thin layer of the preserving material. When the entire body of any
animal is to be preserved, the intestines must be removed and preserved
separately. The cavity whence they are removed should then be filled
with a quantity of hemp or rags impregnated with essential oil, and the
entire body should be covered with properly prepared sand or sawdust.
This process should be several times repeated with fresh mixture, in order
to remove moisture from the animal substances, because this moisture is
often the cause of decomposition.
This mode of dividing the essential oils may be made very useful for
many purposes, such, for instance, as removing the caterpillars from
gardens without watering the soil either with essential oils or with
alkaline solution of saponifiable oils, a process likely to injure the tender
parts of the plants. Another use to which this material may be applied
is to keep flies from annoying domestic animals, either by sprinkling with
it the place where the animal stands or the back of the animal itself.
Again, if after sowing or planting any vegetables the ground be sprinkled
with sawdust, earth, or sand impregnated with the heavier oils, neither
birds nor insects will venture to carry off or destroy the seed or plants.
Solid carburet of hydrogen which is produced by the oils of coals
(naphthaline) would give the same results as the essential oils By putting
at the bottom of the hold of a ship, either as ballast or amongst ballast
of other kinds, a sufficient quantity of sand, earth, or sawdust impregnated
with the raw oils of coals (as being the cheapest of the essential oils), the
destruction of the material of the ship by insects would be prevented.
This general method of preserving animal substances is superior to the
use of salt, and is certain to produce the effect desired. These processes,
or others analogous to them, are to be adopted for the preservation or
destruction of animal substances by means of essential oils, vegetable or
mineral. Results nearly identical can be obtained by means of the
alkaline salts produced by the acid essential oils which are contained in
the essential oils of coal, of peat, of wood, and of schist.

page_text: PRESERVATION AND DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL SUBSTANCES AND EMBALMING OF
BODIES BY MEANS OF ALKALINE SALTS, PRODUCED BY THE ACID AND
SAPONIFLABLE OILS WHICH ARE EXTRACTED FROM THE ESSENTIAL OILS,
ANIMAL AND MINERAL.
Preparation of the Alkaline Salts (Phénates) and of Commercial Phénic
Acid.
To obtain an alkaline salt adapted for the preservation of animal sub-
stances the mixed mass of essential oils obtained from the distillation of
one of the substances alluded to above must be agitated for half an hour
with some caustic alkali. In this operation the essential oils must be
worked cold, if it is desired not to lose any of the volatile products which
they contain. If this object be not desired a slight heat may be used to
facilitate the process. The caustic alkali which I should recommend is
caustic soda, because it is the cheapest; but in any case the caustic alkali
must be highly concentrated, in the case of soda 36 degrees. The pro-
portion of the caustic alkali to be used may vary from rd to th of the
weight of essential oil to be treated. The quantity of phénic acid
contained in the mixed oils may be tested by treating a small quantity
in a graduated test tube with caustic soda. The quantity of phénic acid
will be proportionate to the amount of the mixure which is transformed
into phénate of soda. Caustic lime also may be used, but although this
substance seems cheaper than either soda or potassa, yet it will be seen
that the products obtained by its use are less pure, because of the non-
saponifiable oils which accompany it, and because of the necessity for a
strong heat to effect the required chemical combination, which heat
valatilises a great part of the light essential oils often of great value.
This alkali then should not be used except when great purity of the pro-
ducts is not an object, and the light oils volatilised are of insignificant
value, or when an insoluble alkaline phénate only is required. The essen-
tial oils being well mixed with the alkali, as already stated, water equal
in weight to the alkali employed is added, and the whole agitated for the
space of ten minutes. It is then left to settle for 24 hours, when the
lower part which contains the salt of soda already formed may be drawn
off by means of a pump until the liquor begins to become troubled. The
clear part of the liquid is put into a separate vessel, and the milky or
troubled part is put into another vessel to settle. The transparent liquor
contains no salt of soda, but consists of uncombined essential oils. This
last liquid may be added with the water to the mixed oils and alkali in
the next operation, or if no subsequent operation is to be performed, it
may be filtered and added to the salt of soda already obtained. As this
salt of soda thus obtained appears to be formed by the saponification of

page_text: a mixture of various acid oils, which appear to me more analagous to
phénic acid and to creosote than to any other substance, I shall for the
future designate these saponifiable acid oils "commercial phénic acid,"
and their combinations with the alkali I shall call "phénates." After
having collected all the phénate of soda thus formed, the operator decom-
poses it by pouring on it gradually any vegetable or mineral acid (as sul-
phuric acid, for example), until there is an effervescence produced by the
liberation of carbonic acid. This carbonic acid enters the composition
with the caustic alkali, which nearly always contains a quantity of it;
and it is not displaced by the phénic acid, but is driven off by the more
powerful sulphuric acid. When this decomposition is complete the mix-
ture will form itself into two separate and distinct strata, the upper one
being commercial phénic acid, which may be removed; the lower one is
sulphate of soda, and may be re-sold; thus, from this process may be
obtained, as required, two distinct products, commercial phénic acid and
phénate of soda.
When, as for my present purpose, the alkaline salts
obtained from the above process are alone required, the decomposition
of the alkaline phénate is unnecessary. This phénate is taken and boiled
and so concentrated until it is no longer odorous, for although the greater
part of empyreumatical substances are generally not saponifiable, yet a
certain quantity of such oils are always present in the phénate or phénic
acid obtained as above. As these substances are not in a state of com-
bination with the composition, and as they are volatile, they are driven
off by by boiling. I shall shew presently the method of separating these
substances from the commercial phénic acid.
Before proceeding further I would remark the importance of one of
the steps in the above process for producing the phénate of soda and
phénic acid. After the agitation of the mixture of essential oils and
caustic alkali, I add a quantity of water equal in weight to the alkali in
the mixture. This step is the more necessary because the phénates, how-
ever limpid they may be when greatly concentrated, become less so when
their degree of concentration is lowered to 8 or 10 degrees Beaumé, and
because a saponified oil is re-formed by the addition of water, and takes
up its position of repose upon the surface. If, therefore, the degree of
concentration of the alkaline phénate be suddenly reduced to 10 degrees,
it will happen that a part of the saponified essential oils being re-formed
or again liberated, it ascends and mixes again with the neutral oils,
which are much lighter than the saponifiable oils, so that these neutral
oils are thus increased in density, and at the same time made impure.-
As phénates to be used in preserving or destroying animal substances
are not required highly concentrated (those of from 1 to 4 degrees being
sufliciently strong), the phénate of soda, as above manufactured, should be.

page_text: placed in a vessel of three or four times its own volume, and water should
be added till the phénate is reduced to 10 degrees Beaumé. During this
reduction a part of the phénate will be decomposed, and the freed com-
mercial phénic acid will ascend and float at the surface. The reduced
phénate may be then decanted off, and the re-formed phénic acid may be
collected and may afterwards be used to form an acid "derived by sub-
stitution," and may then be employed for coloring or rendering imper-
vious any animal substances. This phénate may be applied to the pre-
servation or destruction of animal substances by immersing the said sub-
stances in it, taking care to increase or to maintain the strength of the
solution according to the size of the substances treated. After this treat-
ment the said animal substances must be exposed to dry in the air.
The essential oils which yield the greatest quantity of commercial
phénic acid, and consequently the greatest quantity of phénate, are, first,
the essential oils of coal; second, those of peat; third, those of wood;
fourth, those of schist.
EMBALMING OF BODIES.
To preserve a dead body entire without employing the usual agents,
it is necessary to immerse the whole corpse for from 24 to 48 hours in a
solution of alkaline phénate of from 6 to 10 degrees; afterwards the body
must be dried in the air. If it is thought desirable to use the method of
injection by the carotide, phénate of soda of a density of from 10 to 15
degrees should be used. Phénic acid may in this case be used instead
of the phénate. To produce the same result by means of the method of
'division by sand or other such material, these materials should be satu-
rated with phénic acid in preference to the neutral oils.
-
APPLICATION OF THE SAPONIFIABLE ACID OILS CONTAINED IN VEGETABLE OR
MINERAL ESSENTIAL OILS TRANSFORMED BY SUBSTITUTION TO HARDENING
COLORING, AND RENDERING IMPERVIOUS ALL KINDS OF ANIMAL SUBSTANCES.
Leather is variously prepared according to the use to which it is to be
put; that sort which is required to possess rather suppleness than hard-
ness or imperviousness is curried, i.e., treated with alum, &c.; that kind,
on the other hand, which is required to be hard and impervious under-
goes long and repeated immersions in solutions of crushed tan, solutions
therefore containing a quantity of more or less concentrated tannic acid.
The preparation and dressing of leather is done by two principal methods:
-1st, by means of alum; 2nd, by means of tannic acid. The solution of
alum acts by entering the pores of the leather, and depositing and leaving
in those pores a quantity of insoluble subsulphate of aluminum. The
tannic acid acts in a different manner by chemically combining with the

page_text: gelatine of which the skins are mainly composed, and thus forming an
insoluble body which is impervious to water. Nearly the same result as
is produced by the process of currying may be obtained by soaking the
skins in a solution of phénate of soda only, or after having thus soaked
them by immersing them in a solution of some salt whose base is capable
of combining with the phénic acid to form an insoluble body. Simple
lime water may be employed for this purpose. But to obtain the result
produced by the tannic acid on the gelatine of the skins, it is necessary
that the commercial phénic acid should undergo a transformation by sub-
stitution. This transformation proves in the most satisfactory manner
that these saponifiable acid oils contained by the essential oils (especially
those of coal and peat) are closely analogous with pure phénic acid.
TRANSFORMATION OF THE SAPONIFIABLE ACID OILS INTO TRI-NITRO-PHENIO
ACIDS.
Pure phénic acid is a colorless crystalline body, which is obtained from
various substances (such as salycilique acids, benzoin, &c.) Its chemical
formula is CH³O + HO. Neither this acid nor its salts precipitates
gelatine, but if nitric acid be made to react on the phénic acid, this latter
passes first into the state of bi-nitro-phénic acid. The formula of this
aciu is CH*N³O+HO. As this formula shews, three particles of hydrogen
have been removed from the phénic acid and three particles of nitrogen
have taken their place, there have happend then during the complicated
chemical action the separation of three particles of hydrogen and a sub-
stitution of three particles of nitrogen in their place; the tri-nitro-phénic
aciu is therefore an acid derived by substitution. The saponifiable acid
oil contained by the essential oils of vegetable and mineral substances
behave exactly in the same manner, and form acids exactly analogous
to the tri-nitro-phénic acid, and which, like the tri-nitro-phénic acid, pre-
cipitate gelatine. This property belonging to these essential oils and
their derivatives has never before been discovered. The following is the
method of proceeding to obtain this result:-Take the acid oils obtained
from the decomposition of the phénate of soda at 8 or 10 degrees of con-
centration. (These acid oils are, as hercin-before explained, obtained by
adding an equivalent of water to the mixed phénate of soda when it is
, required to reduce its concentration.) These oils are treated with nitric
acid as follows:-Take 8 parts of nitric acid to 1 of commercial phénic
acid to be treated; divide the nitric acid into two portions, one being a
quarter and the other three-quarters of the whole; then place the phénic
acid in a vessel of glass or of stone whose capacity is 15 or 20 times the
0 volume of the phénic acid; now pour gradually (for the reaction is violent)

page_text: some nitric acid from the vessel containing the larger quantity of that
fluid, and continue this till the whole of this portion of the acid is used.
When this is done, and when the reaction has ceased, the vessel must be
put on a slow fire (if the material of the vessel will permit), or in a warm
bath of oil or fat (if the vessel be of stone), and after the reaction has re-
commenced, by reason of the heat, the other portion of the nitric acid is
added to the mixture. When this is done the heating is continued, and
evaporation goes on until there is no more hypo-nitric acid formed, and
until the mixture begins to adhere to the wooden spatula with which it is
stirred, the whole is then withdrawn from the fire or bath and allowed to
cool. The mixture is then filtered to disengage the nitric acid from it.
When this operation is complete the tri-nitro-phénic acid obtained from
it should be crystallised and nearly pure.
If, instead of commercial phénic acid obtained from phénate diluted
with water three times the weight of the caustic alkali used, phénic acid
obtained from phénate of soda of 15 to 20 degrees be employed, then, in
order to obtain a product of a superior kind, the following course must
be adopted-The phénic acid is re-dissolved in caustic alkali to re-form
a phénate of soda, which is then diluted by the addition of water three
times the weight of the alkali employed, thus reducing it to 8 or 10
degrees. By this dilution of the phénate a chemical action is set up,
but instead of an oil being separated in the action a solid of disagreeable
smell is precipitated. The new phénate is then filtered and decomposed
by means of an acid. By this re-formation a good product is obtained.
This precaution is needed, because, when it is attempted to transform
phénic acids obtained from very concentrated phénate of soda into tri-
nitro-phénic acid, the tri-nitro-phénic acid so obtained is imperfectly
crystallised, and contains a viscous matter not readily attacked by nitric
acid. In this state tri-nitro-phénic acid precipitates gelatine, and acts
upon skins nike tannic acid; but the precipitate thus formed, though in-
soluble in cold water, is soluble in warm water. To obtain an agent
which will form with gelatine a precipitate as insoluble as that given by
tannic acid, alum in greater or less quantity must be mixed with the tri-
nitro-phénic acid. By the following method may be obtained a compo-
sition perfectly homogeneous, capable of forming with gelatine a pre-
cipitate insoluble either in cold or hot water, capable, that is, of pro-
ducing in all respects the same effects upon the skins of animals as are
ordinarily produced by the use of tan:-Take three parts of alum and
one of tri-nitro-phénic acid, dissolve the alum in its water of crystallisa-
tion, adding, however, a little more water. When the alum is perfectly
dissolved add the tri-nitro-phénic acid; let it dissolve, and stir the whole
in order to mix it thoroughly; then take a quantity of flour equal in

page_text: weight to one-third of the acid employed, and add it to the mixture; now
let it simmer over the fire till it acquires the consistence of clear starch,
and then remove it from the fire and keep it stirred till it is cold. The
flour is used to produce an intimate union between two substances of
different densities, whose amalgamation without the aid of the flour
would be very imperfect; it holds them together by seizing them all.
When tri-nitro-phénic acid is to be substituted for tannic acid in the con-
cretion of the skins of animals, and in rendering them impervious to
moisture, one part of tri-nitro-phénic acid mixed with alum is dissolved
in 50 parts of water, and this solution may be employed just as the solu-
tion of tannic acid is commonly employed. It is hardly necessary to add
that solutions more or less strong may and ought to be used, according
as the operation is required to be more or less rapid; indeed, solutions con-
taining twice the above proportion of acid, or even stronger, may be
employed, according to circumstances. This new tanning material,
hitherto unknown, has over tan the immense advantage that it can be
carried from place to place in a concentrated state, and being kept in
this state it does not deteriorate, and it may be obtained in all countries.
Very satisfactory results may be obtained by the partial use of this mix-
ture of alum and tri-nitro-phénic acid with solutions of tan itself; and
this is also true of the phénates, which may be also added with advan-
tage to solutions of tan or tannic acid. Again, special kinds of leather
may be prepared by means of phénic acid only, which, being soluble in
most of the various essential and fixed oils, may be mixed with them and

page_text: of warm water; boil the whole for 10 minutes, and then let it stand, in
order that oils which may be lodged amongst the crystals may settle to
the bottom; filter and then decant. Boil the solution, and plunge into it
the objects to be colored, and afterwards rinse them in pure water!
When the tri-nitro-phénic acid combined with alum in the manner herein-
before described is employed, then 5 parts of acid must be added to the
1000 parts of water. This combination of tri-nitro-phénic acid and alum
has the following important advantages as a coloring agent over the acid
alone: 1st, it can be used immediately after its dissolution without
injury to the substances operated on, which is not the case with ordinary
tri-nitro-phénic acid; 2nd, because the alum combines with nearly all
tissues, and its combination produces purer and more lasting colors; 3rd,
it is much more easily and comfortably manipulated, and much more
cleanly. This application of the yellow solutions of tri-nitro-phénic acid
is not entirely new, and I do not claim it as my Invention, for this sub-
stance has been for several years employed as a coloring agent. I claim,
however, the mode of preparing this coloring matter which I have
described, a method which is greatly superior to those hitherto known;
and the coloring matter, as already stated, possesses the great advantage
of being applicable immediately after it is dissolved without injury to
the animal substances colored.
When the acid derived by substitution is but little or not at all soluble
in water, it must then be treated with some caustic alkali to form a salt
soluble in water, and which in these circumstances ordinarily gives
solutions of a yellowish brown color. These solutions are very good
coloring agents. It is necessary in all cases to take care to rinse the sub-
stances operated on in water slightly acidulated, in order to fix the color.
With reference to the red coloring matter which may also be obtained,
I have not yet succeeded in producing it economically enough to speak
further of it at present.
The mode of preparing tri-nitro-phénic acid, as heretofore conducted,
consists in taking ordinary oil of coal, or the same oil distilled, and treat-
ing it with eight times its weight of nitric acid; but from this process is
obtained merely a viscous mass containing at most not more than 33 per
cent. of real tri-nitro-phénic acid, while the process I have described
gives a result containing nearly 90 per cent. of the acid. With regard
to these properties but one particular fact has hitherto been discovered
and pointed out, viz., that the oils of coal (amongst the cheap essential
oils of commerce) produce a yellow color under the action of nitric acid;
and this coloring matter has been employed because cheaper than those
derived from other sources; and with this former investigators were satis-
fied, while I, on the contrary, propound a general principle, viz., that not

page_text: only the essential oils of coal, but all essential oils which contain saponi-
fiable acid oils yield yellow and other coloring. matters. For the oils of
peat, wood, schist, hitherto unexamined in this respect, I have given the
manner of treatment which produces from them coloring matters of a
similar nature; and I have detailed the method for obtaining from these
oils in an economical manner the tri-nitro-phénic acid, and in this method
the nitric acid is used as a reagent only with those oils which are capable
of yielding the required acid, and the reagent is not wasted on substances
incapable of yielding it. Tri-nitro-phénic acid may be used cold as a
coloring agent. With carmine and indigo it produces good greens.
TREATMENT OF NOXIOUS AND DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS, PRESERVATION OF WOODS
AND SHIPS, l'URIFICATION OF THE AIR OF HOSPITALS, &C. AND OF ALL
PLACES OF CROWDED ASSEMBLY.
Various salts bave been employed to preserve, woods from destructive.
insects. One general method of effecting this consists in immersing the
wood in various solutions of salts, and forcing the solution into the inter-
stices of the wood. Another method consists of immersing. the wood in
the heavier oils of coal. For these various solutions hitherto employed,
solution of phénate of soda of 5 or 6 degrees may be substituted.. This
solution, while it is at least as efficacious as those previously used, has.
the important advantage over them of being cheaper. The use of the.
phénate of soda will also have over the second of the older processes the
advantage of leaving in the pores of the wood a fixed salt, which will
permanently protect it. To protect ships from insects it is only necessary
to treat with phénate of soda all the timbers and planks employed in
their construction before the said timbers or planks are put into place.
By daily sprinkling hospitals, barracks, schools, &c. with solution of
phénate of soda of one degree, they may be kept clear of flies, bugs, &c.,
and by washing bedsteads with solution of phénate of soda of 4 degrees,
and forcing it into all holes and crevices which harbour bugs, those offen-
sive creatures may be completely destroyed.
PURIFICATION OF THE VEGETABLE AND MINERAL ESSENTIAL OILS WHICH
CONTAIN SAPONIFIABLE OILS.
The general mass of vegetable and mineral essential oils containing
acid saponifiable oils is always of a much less density than the acid oils
which are extracted from them by saponification produced by means of
caustic alkali. It is easy then to understand that when these denşer oils

page_text: are removed from the general mass, the non-saponifiable essential oils
which remain will be lighter in proportion as the density of the extracted
oils is greater, and their quantity more abundant. An example will
make this still more clear-The general mass of the raw oils of coal have
a density of 15 degrees by the areometer of Cartier, 10 degrees being
taken as the density of water. The acid oils extracted from this mass
have a density of 7 degrees Beaumé, that is, they are 7 degrees heavier
than water, so that between the two species of oil there is a difference
of density of 12 degrees. After the saponification of the said acid oils,
the non-saponifiable essential oils measure 19 or 20 degrees by the are-
ometer, instead of 15 as before. This difference of density is then a neces-
sary consequence of the treatment to which I subject the essential oils,
and is an advantageous result without distillation, as it is the effect of the
separation of the oils. Such is the connected series of results which I
have obtained from the acid saponifiable oils contained in the vegetable
and mineral essential oils, and which constitute my Invention.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the improvements in preserving and otherwise treating animal
and vegetable substances, herein-before described.
And, second, the treatment of vegetable and mineral essential oils,
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Alexis Francisse Bobœuf, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of January,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
P. A. F. BOBŒUF. (L.S.)
Witness,
CH. ARMENGAUD, Jr, Ingr Civil,
23, Boulevt de Strasbourg, à Paris.