Edible Oils and Fats. By Cl, Ainsworth Mitchell. (Longmans and
Co. Os. 6d. net.)--This useitd teohnical handbook, dealing with a subject of great importance, includes an instructive chapter on margarine. The French chemist Mege-Mouries, who invented a butter substitute, had his invention utilized during the siege of Paris in 1870.71. The name "margarine" was given to this sub- stitute because it was thought to be mainly the glyceride of " mar- garic acid," which Chevreul regarded as a constituent of natural fats. It is now known that " margaric acid" is a compound, but the name "margarine" survives because legislators thought that it could not be confused with the word "butter." Modern mar- garine, it seems, is mainly composed of vegetable fat, such as coconut oil or cotton-seed oil, churned up with milk.
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