ve been
otherwise prepared. The general tendency of the discussion, as far as
related to this part of the subject, seems to have been also in the same
direction; but neither in the paper nor in the discussion was the
question of the best mode of preparing lard for use in pharmacy so
specially referred to or fully discussed as I think it deserves to be.

When, in 1860, Mr. Hills, at a meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society,
suggested a process for the preparation of lard, which consisted in
removing from the "flare" all matter soluble in water, by first
thoroughly washing it in a stream of cold water after breaking up the
tissues and afterward melting and straining the fat at a moderate heat,
this method of operating seemed to be generally approved. It was adopted
by men largely engaged in "rendering" fatty substances for use in
pharmacy and for other purposes for which the fat was required to be as
free as possible from flavor and not unduly subject to become rancid. It
became the process of the British Pharmacopoeia in 1868. In 1869 it
formed the basis of a process, which was patented in Paris and this
country by Hippolite Mege, for the production of a fat free from taste
and odor, and suitable for dietetic use as a substitute for butter.
Mege's process consists in passing the fat between revolving rollers,
together with a stream of water, and then melting at "animal heat." This
process has been used abroad in the production of the fatty substance
called oleomargarine.

But while there have been advocates for this process, of whom I have
been one, opinions have been now and then expressed to the effect that
the washing of the flare before melting the fat was rather hurtful than
beneficial. I have reason to believe that this opinion has been gaining
ground among those who have carefully inquired into the properties of
the products obtained by the various methods which have been suggested
for obtaining animal fat in its greatest state of purity.

I have had occasion during the last two or three years to make many
experiments on the rendering and purification of animal fat, and at the
same time have been brought into communication with manufacturers of
oleomargarine on the large scale; the result of which experience has
been that I have lost faith in the efficacy of the Pharmacopeia process.
I have found that in the method now generally adopted by manufacturers
of oleomargarine, which is produced in immense quantities, t