222 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Grant Lochhead in 191 IS two by the author in the previous year 

 and one by Prof. W. H. Warren". Table II gives results derived 

 from these ash analyses and the determinations of malic acid made by 

 Messrs. Lochhead and Warren respectively. There is a reasonable 

 agreement between the two estimates of calcium malate — that calcu- 

 lated from the calcium and that from the malic acid — the differences 

 being sometimes positive, sometimes negative. In only three of the 

 seven samples do the two estimates vary by more than two per cent. 



The nature of the undetermined matter has not yet been ascer- 

 tained. Water of crystallization, retained at 100-110° suggests 

 itself as a possibility, though Prof. Warren tells me the hydrate, 

 CaC4H406-2H20, loses its water at that temperature. Possibly it 

 may be water retained by the silica. That it may be some complex 

 carbohydrate, has been suggested by Warren.^ 



Results so far obtained point to malic acid as the only organic 

 acid present in material quantity. 



Von Lippmann^ has reported the discovery of d-tartaric acid and 

 of small quantities of tricarballylic acid in a sample sent him from 

 Montreal some years ago. IVIr. Van Zoeren, attempting to confirm 

 Von Lippman's results, obtained sufificient tartaric acid to identify 

 microscopically as acid potassium salt but was unable to isolate tri- 

 carballylic acid. Warren found a trace of calcium oxalate (identified 

 microscopically), but could not detect any other organic acid. 



The seven samples of washed sugar sand in which malic acid was 

 determined show an average content of about 70 per cent of calcium 

 malate, corresponding to 55 per cent of malic acid, H2C4H4O5. In 

 thirteen samples received from farmers in 1914, an average content of 

 47-4 per cent of malic acid was found. In converting the sand into 

 calcium bimalate in lots of 50 to 200 grams we recover about 75 per 

 cent of the acid indicated by the analysis. Warren recovered 96 per 

 cent in one experiment, but the calcium bimalate crystals obtained 

 were naturally not very pure. 



No very accurate estimate of the annual production can be made 

 at present. Practical men say that the yield varies from year to year 

 and from bush to bush. In 1912, Mr. Lochhead weighed the sugar 

 sand produced by twenty-one Quebec farmers and obtained informa- 

 tion as to the number of trees tapped and the number of gallons of 

 syrup made by each. Samples of each farmer's sand were ashed. 



^Loc. cit. 



2 Journ. Am. Chem. Soc. iZ (1911) 1205-11. 



' Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association, Twentieth Annual Report 

 (1913), p. 43. 



^ Ber deutsch, Chem. Gesell, 47 (1914), 3094-5. 



