JF Ptak Science Books LLC  Post 377

This is the third in the stumpy but cushiony series in this blog on fat, all of the items coming from my purchase of a 90,000-item pamphlet collection from the Library of Congress.  It was unimaginatively called, and stamped, “The Pamphlet Collection”, and was organized into 2,800 or so document boxes, all of which were painstakingly categorized and alphabetized, but done so via a secret and mysterious way that I’ve never deciphered or understood.  Listen:  the pamphlets were organized indifferently in general but diffidently in particular, so an Aa-At box might’ve contained pamphlets categorized via title or author or place of publication or subject matter or publisher. The pamphlets’ placement was almost random, but not quite, as there was a thin thread of logic tying them all together, but just not in a way that it would all be sensical. 

But back to fat:  it really is just the pamphlet’s title that’s so unexpected, as the content is all about replacing the oils and fats that had gone missing, sucked up by the war effort, that were actually pretty essential. For example, one pound of fat contained enough glycerin to make a pound of black powder, which is also enough to make six 75mm shells.  Butter, margarine, vegetable oils include: olive oil, palm oil, soybean oil, canola oil, pumpkin seed oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, grape seed oil, sesame oil, and so on, were definite parts of the diet and the economy, and, well, did actually have to be replaced.  There.  I’ve killed the humor in this title.