ADIPOCIRE, a substance of a peculiar nature, being intermediate between fat and wax, and bearing a close resemblance to spermaceti. In 1786, Fourcroy had the op portunity of observing an accumulation of adipocire on a scale of prodigious extent, under circumstances of a peculiar nature, which are highly curious. There was in Paris an im mense burial-ground, called La Cimetiere des Innocens. This place had been the receptacle of the dead for a considerable part of the population of Paris for several centuries. On account of some improvements in the neigh bourhood it was determined to remove this cemetery. The number of burials in this place had amounted to some thousands an nually. The bodies were deposited in pits or trenches about thirty feet deep ; each pit was capable of holding from twelve to fifteen thousand bodies ; and as the pits became full they were covered with a few feet of earth. The extent of the whole area *as about seven thousand square yards, and this space became at last occupied by a mass which consisted al most entirely of animal matter, rising several feet above the general level of the soil. Sci entific men were especially charged by the government to direct the precautions requisite for securing the health of the workmen in re moving this immense mass of putrefying animal matter. When the bodies were ex posed to the light of day, the linen which had covered them was slightly adherent to the bodies ; beneath the linen was found nothing but irregular masses of a soft ductile matter of a gray-white colour, resembling common white cheese, the resemblance being more striking from the prints which the threads of the linen had made upon its surface. The
bones, which were surrounded bythis matter, had no solidity, but were readily broken by sudden pressure. The head was environed with this peculiar matter ; the face was no longer distinguishable ; the mouth was dis organized ; no trace remained of the vis cera of the thorax and abdomen, which were all confused together, and converted into this fatty matter ; and this was also invariably the case with the brain. None of this matter was found in bodies isolated from each other, but only in those accumulated iu the common graves. From various observations it was found that this fatty matter was capable of enduring in these burying-places for thirty or forty years, but that ultimately it became cor rupted and was dissipated.
The substance thus presented for examina tion under such remarkable circumstances, is considered by M. Fourcroy as an ammoniacal soap, formed of a peculiar oil combined with ammonia. It melts at about 130° Fehr. ; by a strong heat it is decomposed with the solu tion of ammonia. There would of course be something repugnant in using such materials in manufactures ; but French and German chemists have made attempts to convert the (lead bodies of cattle into adipoeire, for candle and soap-making. It is, however, found that adipocire proceeds solely from the pre-existing fat of the dead body, and not from the flesh and cartileges ; and the attempts to produce adipocire artificially have not been commer cially successful.