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A SIMPLE AND CERTAIN METHOD TO DETERMINE THE COMMERCIAL VALUE OF SOAP.

BY DR. ALEXANDER MUeLLER.

In consequence of the ceremonious process by which the fatty acids are determined in one portion of the soap, and the alkali by the incineration of another, I consider the following method is not unworthy of publication, because it appears to afford quicker and more correct results by reason of the greater simplicity of the manipulation.  It is available principally for soda soaps, which are the most common; but it may be also employed with corresponding alterations for soaps which have other bases.

A piece of soap weighing two or three grammes is dissolved in a tared beaker glass of about 160 cubic centimetres capacity with 80 to 100 cubic centimetres of water, by heat, in a water-bath, and then three or four times the quantity of diluted sulphuric acid or as much as is necessary to decompose the soap, added from a burette.  When, after repeated agitation, the fatty acids have separated in a transparent clear stratum from the aqueous solution, it is allowed to cool, and then the contents of the beaker glass are placed in a moistened filter, which has been previously dried at 212 deg.  Fahr. and weighed.  The contents of the filter are washed until their acid reaction disappears.  In the meanwhile the beaker glass is placed in a steam-bath, so that, it being already dry, may support the washed and partly dry filter, which is laid on the mouth of the glass as if it were in the funnel.  The fatty acids soon pass through the paper, and for the most part flow ultimately to the bottom of the beaker glass; the increase of weight of which, after cooling, and the subtraction of the weight of the filter, gives the quantity of fatty acids present in the soap.  A second drying and weighing is not necessary, if on the cold sides of the interior of the glass no damp is to be observed, which is occasioned by a trace of water still present.  If the quantity of oxide of iron added to marble the soap is considerable, it may be easily found by incinerating the filter and determining the weight of the residue.

The fluid runs from the fatty acids on the filter, which, with the washings, has been preserved in a sufficiently large beaker glass, is colored with tincture of litmus, and decomposed with a test alkaline solution until the blue color appears.  The difference of the quantity of alkali required to neutralize the sulphuric acid, and the quantity of sulphuric acid used in the first instance, allows a calculation to be made as to the quantity of effective alkali in the soap, for example:—­

23.86 grms. of soap (partly cocoa-nut oil soap). 17.95 " fatty acids with filter. 04.44 " filter. ----- 13.51 grms. of hydrates of fatty acids = 56.62 per cent.

28.00 cub. cent. of the diluted sulphuric acid applied for the
          decomposition of the soap, of which 100 cub. cent.
          represent 2982 grms. of carbonate of soda.