Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Adipocere

For works with similar titles, see Adipocere.

​Adipocere (from adeps, fat, and cera, wax), a substance into which animal matter is sometimes converted, deriving its name from the resemblance it bears to both fat and wax. When the Cemetery of the Innocents at Paris was removed in 1786–87, great masses of this substance were found where the coffins containing the dead bodies had been placed very closely together. At the bottom of the coffin, in these cases, there appeared, loosely enveloped in linen, a shapeless mass, of a dingy white colour, ​flattened as though it had undergone great pressure. The whole body had been converted into this fatty matter, except the bones, which remained, but were extremely brittle. Fourcroy, who had observed the substance before, and had given it the name of adipocere, read a paper on the subject before the Academy of Sciences in 1789. Chemically, adipocere is found to consist principally of margarate of ammonia. A similar substance, found in peat, is known as bog-butter.

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