Matthew Greenia's Butter is Better, Flagpole October 13, 1993, sets a new standard for journalistic pseudo history and lexicographic disinformation. Apparently filtering a theme through the research process on the way to the press is as difficult as explaining hydrogenation, the addition of hydrogen molecules to oils in the presence of a catalyst, in two syllable words.

Oleomargarine is a French word but oleo is not Latin for a mixture. The Latin for mixture is mixtura. This may be confirmed by consulting an American Heritage Dictionary or a Cassel's Latin Dictionary. Oleo, however is Latin for a smell or odor. The oleo of oleomargarine is the combining form of Latin oleum, oil from Greek elaion, olive oil. Don't confuse Latin oleum, oil with English olium, a corrosive solution of sulfur trioxide in sulfuric acid. As the old saying goes:

The French did not dub it margarine because its milky luster reminded them of pearls. No one who has seen the dead lusterless pasty white of uncoloured margarine could ever make a comparison to pearls. French for pearl is perle just like Middle English. The name oleomargarine was coined in the mistaken belief that all oils and fats contained margarique acid or in English margaric acid. Margaric acid is a white crystalline fatty acid and was named from the Greek maragon, a pearl, due to the pearly luster of its crystals. Margaric acid is not very common and I doubt you will find margarine containing this ingredient. A major component of butter, however, is butyrin. Butyrin is a glyceride of butyric acid from Latin butyrum, butter from Greek bouturon, cow cheese from Greek bous, cow. The butyrin in butter spontaneously decomposes into butyric acid which is the, to some, offensive odor in human sweat.

There were no laws prohibiting the Turnerization of margarine but the Oleomargarine Act of 1886 and the amendments of 1902 and 1930 imposed a prohibitive tax and levied high license fees on all manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers of yellow margarine. This consumer protection legislation was the result of the butter producers concern for the public health.

People might have used some cottonseed oil in cooking and as lamp oil in the 19th century but they did not use very much as most pressing mills were financial failures and the most successful one, located in Natchez, Mississippi, only lasted ten years, 1833 to 1844. As late as 1860 only seven mills were in operation and these were shut down during the late unpleasantness with our northern neighbors. In 1876 only 5% of the cottonseed crop was crushed for oil and other products.

Margarine was invented by Hippolyte Mege-Mouries in the late 1860s and a U.S. patent was granted in 1873. Margarine was originally made from animal fats or imported oils such as coconut, palm or palm kennel oils. The anti-margarine zealots cited these imported products as justification for draconian restrictions and as the basis for advocating additional restrictions. It was not until the 1930s that suitable methods were developed for producing a satisfactory margarine from domestic vegetable oils such as cottonseed and soybean. The oppressive margarine laws were repealed in 1950.

The commercial hydrogenation of fatty oils which began in 1908 was responsible for the revival of whaling which like slavery prior to Eli Whitney's improved cotton gin had been dealt a death blow by technology and then revived by technology. The commercial carbonization of coal which began in Great Britain in the late 1770s was the death knell of slavery until technology produced a gin capable of processing short staple cotton. Whaling was fast disappearing as whale oil could not compete as an illuminant or as a lubricant with cheap mineral oil which had been available since 1859 when Drake brought the first oil well in and the CSS Shenandoah's destruction of the Yankee whaling fleet in 1865 had rid the seas of most whalers.

Whale oil is a true fat consisting almost entirely of triglycerides and is an excellent raw material for margarine or soap except for the fishy smell and taste. Hydrogenation, however, converts the strong-smelling fishy liquid into a bland, odorless, tasteless, stable fat suitable for margarine or soap. The main use for whale oil since 1908 has been as a raw material for margarine and compound cooking fat.

You can whip oil at any speed you wish and introduce as much air as you please but it is not going to solidify. You can drop an egg and some lemon juice in while you are whipping it and you just might get some mayonnaise but that is about all.