106 COMBUSTIBLE ACIDS. 



The next set of experiments on the subject was 

 made by M. M. Gay-Lussac and Thenard. They 

 made up oxalate of lime, dried at the tempera- 

 ture of 212, into balls with chlorate of potash : 

 these balls were heated to combustion, in a tube, 

 and the gaseous products collected and analyzed. 

 They deduced from these experiments the con- 

 stituents of oxalic acid as follows : 



Oxygen . . . 70-689 

 Carbon . . . 26-566 

 Hydrogen . . 2*745 



100-000* 



The data employed in these calculations might 

 be rectified a little, were it not that the salt which 

 they employed still contained a quantity of water 

 of crystallization, which vitiates all the conclu- 

 sions of these very ingenious experimenters. 



Berzelius repeated the experiments of these 

 chemists with his usual precision, and was at 

 very great pains to render his oxalate of lime an- 

 hydrous. He obtained from 100 parts of oxalic 

 acid 



Oxygen . . 66-534 



Carbon . . . 33-222 



Hydrogen . . 0-244 



1 00-000 

 * Rcchcrches-PhyiJcO'Chcmique, II. 299, 



