Chemical Society. 315 



have been, and still may be, the cause of the formation of hard rocks 

 from materials originally but slightly coherent. 



" Notice of the Decomposition of Oxalic Methylic yEther (Oxa- 

 late of Oxide of Methyl) by Alcohol," by Henry Croft, Esq. 



While in Berlin I was led to examine the action of potassa on 

 oxalate of methyl, by a statement of Weidmann and Schweitzer in 

 their first treatise on Wood-spirit ; namely, that the compounds of 

 the oxide of methyl with acids are decomposed by alkalies, not into 

 their constituent acid and wood-spirit, as Dumas and Peligot have 

 stated, but into the acid and a peculiar oil which they called methol. 

 From this Lbwig drew some conclusions unfavourable to the accu- 

 racy of Dumas and Peligot's research. This statement of Weidmann 

 and Schweitzer I found to be incorrect, as they themselves also al- 

 lowed in their second paper. Oxalate of methyl is best prepared by 

 distilling a mixture of 1 part wood-spirit, 1 part anhydrous oxalic 

 acid (HO + O 2 3 ), and from £th to ^th of sulphuric acid. The 

 first portion which passes over may be returned, and afterwards an- 

 other part of wood- spirit added, or even two. The aether obtained 

 must not be allowed to stand in solution for any length of time, for 

 it easily decomposes. The above proportions I have found to be the 

 best ; the method with oxalic acid alone is troublesome, on account 

 of the great volatility of wood-spirit, and the length of time required 

 for forming any considerable quantity of the aether. If, on the other 

 hand, so much as an equal weight of sulphuric acid is taken, the 

 mixture becomes brown or black, and towards the end of the ope- 

 ration sulphurous acid, methol, and other products are formed. By 

 passing hydrochloric acid gas into a solution of oxalic acid in wood- 

 spirit no aether could be obtained ; it is possible, however, that the 

 result of further experiments may be more favourable, only one ex- 

 periment being made, owing to the very small quantity of wood- 

 spirit in my possession. 



It is well known that Mitscherlich formed the oxalovinate of po- 

 tassa by adding to an alcoholic solution of oxalic aether just so much 

 of an alcoholic solution of potassa as was sufficient to saturate half 

 the oxalic acid contained in the aether. As no acid oxalate of methyl 

 is known, I therefore attempted to form it in the same manner, but 

 owing to the excessively small quantity of spirit which I possessed, 

 and which is not to be obtained in northern Germany, I was obliged 

 to dissolve both the oxalic methylic aether and the potassa in alcohol, 

 it appearing very unlikely that the alcohol could have any disturb- 

 ing influence, as it is only the aether which ought to be decomposed. 

 On adding the solution of potassa until the mixture became slightly 

 alkaline, a white salt in pearly scales was obtained ; this was washed 

 with alcohol and dried. The filtered solution gave more of it on 

 evaporation. 



In analysing this substance it was useless to attempt to determine 

 the carbon and hydrogen, owing to the admitted insecureness of the 

 analyses of potash salts, and I had not enough material to prepare 

 either the lead or baryta salt. The oxalic acid and the potassa were 

 therefore alone determined : it contained,— 1st, 3081, and 2nd, 30"76 



