OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 305 



H -f- SO3 rr: Sulphurous Acid. 



H -f S O4 = Sulphuric 

 H -f N Os = Nitric 

 H + C2 H O4 = Formic 

 H + C2 O4 == Oxalic 

 H 4- C4 H3 O4 = Acetic 

 H -{- Cg H5 O4 =r Metacetonic " 

 H -f Cs II7 O4 = Butyric " 



etc., etc. 



" Have sour bodies also a common form? 



" The interest which attaches to the above formulse will not be 

 diminished by the consideration, that many hitter bodies, such as aloes, 

 assafoetida, myrrh, and the resins in general, have a constitution refer- 

 able to a single fundamental type. Heldt, in a recent elaborate paper, 

 in Liebig's Annalen, upon Santonine and the formation of resins from 

 essential oils, gives several probable modes of production, which may 

 be expressed in the following formulse. It will be seen that the con- 

 stitution is such that a certain amount of hydrogen may be oxidated 

 without the oxidation of the carbon. The general conception of Heldt 

 has been long entertained by chemists, but has, in his paper, for the 

 first time, met with a full exposition. 



" Bitter Bodies. 



[C40 Hs]" - H, + O, = R. 



[Co Hs]" _ H, + O, -f- [H 0], = R. 



[Co H,]" _ H, + O, + 0, r= R. 



[Cjo Usf _ H. + O. + O, + [H O], = R. 



[C,oH3]" + [HO].r=R." 



Professor Peirce communicated the following elements of the 

 " Orbit of Flora, computed at Gottingen, from normal places 

 Oct. 22.5, Nov. 20.5, and Dec. 19.5," by Benjamin Apthorp 

 Gould, Jr., A. A. S. 



" Epoch 1848, Jan. 1.0, Berlin Mean Time. 



Mean Equinox, 



