Snake oils were extracted with refluxing petroleum ether. The fatty acids from snake oils were esterified by KOH/CH 3OH in the existence of BF 3
and fatty acid esters were determined by GC MS. Twenty nine kinds of fatty acids were identified. The result shows that the main compositions of snake oils are myristic acid
palmitoleic acid
palmitic acid
linoleic acid
oleic acid
stearic acid
arachidonic acid etc
and the mass frictions of unsaturated fatty acids in snake oils are higher than 63% of total fatty acids.