Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/55

 GLYCERINE large and sharp, the soles covered for the most part with bristly hairs, and the tail short and bushy. The glutton of Europe ( O. luscus, Linn.) is about as large as a badger, of a deep brown, darkish on the back. The voracity of this ani- mal, though great, has been much exaggerated. It is nocturnal, inhabits the coldest countries, as Russia and Siberia, and is active all winter. The American glutton, called also wolverene and carcajou, seems to be a paler variety of the 0. luscus ; the color is dark brown above, pass- ing into black ; a pale band runs on each side from the shoulder around the flanks, uniting on the hips ; tail with long bushy hairs. The inner fur is soft and short, the outer long and coarse, like that of the black bear ; across the forehead, on each side of the neck, and between the legs, are patches and tufts of white hairs. The average length to root of tail is 2f ft., the tail from 10 to 12 in., and the height at shoulder about a foot; the width of the hind feet is nearly 5 in., so that their tracks in the snow are not unlike those of the bear. The wolver- ene is confined almost exclusively to the north- ern regions of the continent, being most abun- dant in the Rocky mountains near the arctic circle ; it is occasionally seen in northern New York, and in the west has been found as far south as Great Salt lake. The strength, agility, cunning, and voracity attributed to the glutton by- the older writers are mostly fabulous; it is by no means ferocious, is slow and heavy in its motions, not remarkably voracious, neither strong nor agile enough to pounce upon and kill deer and other large game, and avoids entering water in pursuit of prey. The wolverene gen- erally hunts at night, spending the day in holes and caves; its food consists principally of mice, marmots, and other rodents, grouse and other birds which have plunged under the snow; there is no proof that it destroys the beaver, ex- cept occasionally; it may sometimes finish lar- ger animals disabled by the hunter, by old age, or by accident, and when very hungry will eat carrion. It is notorious for following the traps of the hunter, and stealing therefrom both the bait and the captured animal, and for digging up and destroying caches of provisions. The wolverene is very suspicious, and rarely caught except in carefully concealed steel traps ; it is very strong for its size, its weight being from 25 to 30 Ibs. The young are produced once a year, two to four at a time. The fur of the wolverene is used for muffs and sleigh robes. The specific name luscus was given by Linnaeus to an American animal, which happened to have but one eye ; should the European glut- ton be separated from the wolverene, it would be properly called G. lorealis (Nilsson). GLYCERINE (Gr. yAwuf, sweet), the sweet principle of oils, a triatomic alcohol, the base of the compounds found in animal fats and also in some vegetable substances, discovered by Scheele in 1779. Its composition is represent- ed by the formula C 3 H 8 O 3. It is a colorless, transparent, sweet sirup, without odor, of spe- 364 VOL. vm. 4 cific gravity 1'28 ; it is inflammable, mixes free- ly with water, taking it from the air, is also soluble in alcohol, sparingly in ether, and dis- solves salts that are soluble in water ; it does not become rancid by exposure, but with ani- mal tissue may be made to ferment. At a temperature above 600 F. it is decomposed, being converted into acroleine, acetic acid, and inflammable gases. Between 500 and 600 it may be distilled with only partial decomposi- tion. It may be cooled to 4 F. without freezing. Berthelot has succeeded in combi- ning it with the fatty acids, and has thus pro- duced the organic fatty substances, stearine, margarine, oleine, &c. This was eifected by keeping the mixture of acids and glycerine at a temperature of 212 for several days in close vessels. At higher heat much less time is re- quired. Glycerine is a product of the process of saponification. As prepared by the phar- maceutists, it is taken up with boiling water from its mixture in a free state with the plum- biferous soap called lead plaster. The plaster is made by boiling together litharge (oxide of lead), olive oil, and water. The oil is decom- posed by the lead taking its acids, and the gly- cerine is thus liberated. When hot water is added in equal quantity to the plaster, the mixture is well stirred, and the liquid part is decanted ; any lead that may be present is thrown down by a current of sulphuretted hydrogen, and is got rid of by filtering. The water is finally removed by evaporation at a temperature below 212, leaving the glycerine. Various other methods of preparing it are in use. The mother liquor of the soap factories affords a convenient source of it. From thia it is separated by adding a slight excess of sul- phuric acid, heating the solution with carbonate of baryta, filtering, and, after the filtrate has been concentrated by evaporation, taking up the glycerine with alcofiol, which is afterward to be distilled off. A hot solution of fat has been decomposed by injecting into it super- heated steam. The fatty acids and glycerine, collected in a receiver, separate in two layers, the glycerine at the bottom. The acids can be drawn off, so as to leave the glycerine with no other mixture than water. The method of de- tecting the presence of glycerine when in small quantity is based on the marked qualities of the substance acroleine into which it is in part converted by heat. If the substance supposed to contain it be separated from foreign mixture as far as possible and rapidly heated, either alone or with a little anhydrous phosphoric acid, the acroleine generated, in case glycerine was present, will be detected by the pungent acrid odor, somewhat like that from the wick of a candle just extinguished. Glycerine is formed in small quantities during the process of alcoholic fermentation. 0. Friedl and R. Silva have succeeded in preparing it artificially from the chloride of propylene, which in turn is made without the use of glycerine itself. Owing to its property of long continuing moist,