BUTYRIC ACID

One of the fatty acids contained in butter: it is also formed in certain cases in which iugar undergoes fermentation in contact with curd, and aence termed butyric fermentation. This acid is a volatile, colourle , and very mobile liquid, of a pungent jOur odour, resembling that of a mixture of acetic acid and rancid butter; its taste is first pungent and sour, then sweetish and ethereal. The chemical formula of this icid is CflH; O3 + H O; that is, the anhydrous butyric icid consists of 8 atoms of carbon, 7 of hydrogen, and 3 )f oxygen; which in the ordinary acid are combined »ith an atom of water: in the butyrates this atom of ffater is replaced by an atom of base. c. [s. 1372]