OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



379 



C 



H 



OH 



is first formed, it would pass at once into the aldehyde alcohol 



H 



OH 



from which acetic acid would then be formed, precisely in the same 

 way that tartronic acid is formed from dibrompyruric acid,* or from 

 dioxytartaric acid.f It is more probable, however, that the ketone acid 



COOH 

 I 

 CO 



Ih 



?OH 



COOH 



is the first product, and that this passes into acetic acid in a similar 

 way through the loss of carbonic dioxide. 



* Griniaux, Bull, de la Soc. China., xxvii. 440. 

 t Kekule, Ann. Chem. u. Pharm., ccxxi. 230. 



