1850—1854 OS 



It is surrounded by 20 hectares 1 of well cultivated ground. 

 All this is the result of a few years' work. As to the question, 

 here is a little information that you will keep strictly to your- 

 self for the present. M. Fikentscher obtained racemic acid 

 for the first time about twenty-two years ago. He prepared at 

 that time rather a large quantity. Since then only a very small 

 amount has been formed in the process of manufacture and he 

 has not troubled to preserve it. When he used to obtain most, 

 his tartars came from Trieste. This confirms, though not in 

 every point, what I heard from M. Mitscherlich. Anyhow, 

 here is my plan : Having no laboratory at Zwischau, I have just 

 returned to Leipzig with two kinds of tartars that M. 

 Fikentscher now uses, some of which come from Austria, and 

 some from Italy. M. Fikentscher has assured me that I 

 should be very well received here by divers professors, who 

 know my name very well, he says. To-morrow Monday morn- 

 ing, I will go to the Universite and set up in some laboratory 

 or other. I think that in five or six days I shall have finished 

 my examination of these tartars. Then I shall start for 

 Vienna, where I shall stay two or three days and rapidly study 

 Hungarian tartars. . . . Finally I shall go to Trieste, where I 

 shall find tartars of divers countries, notably those of the 

 Levant, and those of the neighbourhood of Trieste itself. On 

 arriving here at M. Fikentscher's I have unfortunately dis- 

 covered a very regrettable circumstance. It is that the tartars 

 he uses have already been through one process in the country 

 from which they are exported, and this process is such that it 

 evidently eliminates and loses the greater part of the racemic 

 acid. At least I think so. I must therefore go to the place 

 itself. If I had enough money I should go on to Italy ; but 

 that is impossible, it will be for next year. I shall give ten 

 years to it if necessary ; but it will not be, and I am sure that 

 in my very next letter I shall be able to tell you that I have 

 some good results. For instance, I am almost sure to find a 

 prompt means of testing tartars from the point of view of 

 racemic acid. That is a point of primary importance for my 

 work. I want to go quickly through examining all these 

 different tartars ; that will be my first study. . . . M. 

 Fikentscher will take nothing for his products. It is true that 

 I have given him hints and some of my own enthusiasm. He 

 1 Hectare : French measure of surface, about 2£ acres. [Trans.] 



