18 NOTE ON THE OXALATE OF IRON. 
females. The adult male was much sought after on account of his 
showy crimson plumage, but only a few of them were procured. It 
is worthy of remark; that the Grossbeaks are frequently, if not always, 
accompanied by true Bohemian Chatterers ; which latter feed on the 
stem and pulp of the berries of the Mountain Ash, rejected and 
thrown down by their hard-billed fellow travellers. 
(To be continued.) 
NOTE ON THE OXALATE OF IRON. 
BY H. CROFT, D. C. Ls 
PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, TORONTO. 
Tn a recent number (Nov. 8rd,) of the Chemical News, among the 
extracts from foreign journals, (Comptes Rendus, 51~17,) there 
appeared a short note on the so-called Quadroxalate of Iron, by Dr. 
Phipson, the formula being given as FeO, 4C?0%. The correct 
name representing its composition being given, it does not appear 
that there can be any typographical error in the formula, which would 
otherwise seem likely, from the excessive improbability of the exist- 
ence of an anhydrous quadroxalate of a heavy metallic oxide. The 
absurdity of the formula becomes still more apparent if the method 
of preparation be considered, viz.: by precipitating ferrous sulphate 
by oxalic acid, or better by oxalate of ammonia. In this latter case 
these two neutral salts must so decompose each other as to produce 
a highly acid insoluble compound, and set free three equivalents of 
ammonia, by which the supernatant liquid must become strongly 
alkaline; a species of decomposition the writer believes to be as 
yet unknown in chemistry. Fe 0,8 03+4, N H 40, C70?= FeO, 
4 C 20°+NH 40,80°+3 NH°+3H0. It is scarcely necessary 
to say that nothing of the kind takes place. The salt is described as 
being yellow and giving with ferricyanide of potassium a green sub- 
stance, owing to partial decomposition, a fact whichis not altogether 
incomprehensible, when it is remembered that Cfdy K® gives a blue 
colour with salts of Fe O, and that blue and yellow produce green. 
It is a pity that Dr. Phipson, when writing on any subject, should 
not have previously made himself acquainted with facts which have 
been known for nearly five and twenty years,—the salt being nothing 
