1 10 COMBUSTIBLE ACIDS. 



to prove, that oxalic acid cannot exist in an in- 

 sulated state except in combination with water. 

 ,5 grains of oxalic acid dried, but still containing 

 a quantity of water, were mixed with 200 grains 

 of fuming sulphuric acid, in an apparatus for re- 

 ceiving gases over mercury : the oxalic acid 

 gradually and totally disappeared, and produced 

 9*4 cubic inches of gas ; the sulphuric acid be- 

 came less fuming ; the gas, washed with ammo- 

 nia, lost half its volume, which was consequently 

 carbonic acid gas ; the residual 4 -7 cubic inches 

 were carbonic oxide, for the gas burned with a 

 blue flame, required for complete combustion 

 half its volume of oxygen gas, and formed its own 

 volume of carbonic acid gas. Thus, by the ac- 

 tion of sulphuric acid, the water was separated 

 from the acid, and the anhydrous acid was re- 

 solved into equal volumes of carbonic acid and 

 carbonic oxide.* 



Were the hydrogen detected by Berzelius to 

 be reckoned a constituent of the acid, then the 

 acid would be composed of 



Oxygen 3 

 Carbon 1-5 

 Hydrogen 0-01 1 



4-511 



Now, O'Oll is only T Vth of an atom of hydrogen, 



* Annals of Philosophy (second series) III. 315. 

 16 



