142 SACCHOLACTIC ACID CONVERTED INTO SUCCINIC. 



iron, a power much too low to affect even the most delicate 

 electrometer, may not this be occasionally employed with 

 advantage as a chemical test of electricity, while the produc- 

 tion of acid and alkali, effected by still inferior degrees of 

 electricity to those required for the coagulation of albumen, 

 may likewise be regarded as auxiliary tests on such occa- 

 sions ? 



If these facts and observations appear to the Society to 

 throw any light upon the principle of secretion, it may be 

 an advantage to medical science, that they should be laid 

 before the public, as hints for future inquiry. 



XL 



On the Saccholactic Acid, and its Conversion into Succinic : 

 by Mr. Trommsdorff *. 



Process for pro- A HE process I employed for procuring saccholactic acid 

 eurins saccho- differs from that described by Scheele in requiring a smaller 

 lactic acid. c . . • j T 1 i 



proportion of nitric acid. Jnto a large glass retort put one 



part of sugar of milk finely powdered, and three parts of 

 nitric acid of the specific gravity of 1*28. A receiver being 

 adapted to the retort, heat is applied, till the liquid boils. 

 It is then removed from the tire; and, as soon as the ebul*« 

 lition and the evolution of gas have entirely ceased, it is 

 placed on the fire again. When the liquid, which is kept 

 boiling, begins to grow thick and turbid, the retort is taken 

 from the fire, and suffered to cool. The white powder is 

 then separated from the supernatant liquid, which is evapo- 

 rated slowly, after adding to it the nitric acid, that had 

 passed over into the receiver. In this way a considerable 

 additional portion of saccholactic acid is i'ormed, which is 

 mixed with the other. The whole of the pulverulent acid 

 is shaken repeatedly in a vessel of cold water, and separated 

 by filtration. In this way from 16 ounces of sugar of milk 

 four ounces of saccholactic acid are obtained, and from the 

 mother water about two ounces of oxalic acid. 



* Abridged from Annaes de Chim. vol. LXXl, p. 79 Extracted 

 from Trominsdorif'a Pharmaceutical Journal by Vogei. 



A. 1. 



