507 



and abundantly obtained from sorbs, that no chemist ever thinks 

 of preparing it from any other source. The suggestion of the 

 Editors of the Annales de Chimie has not been without its 

 eifect. The authors of most of the systems of chemistry have 

 retained the name ' malic acid,' and allude to me as one who 

 had fallen into error with regard to its nature, instead of repre- 

 senting me as its real discoverer. 



" The editors of the Annales de Chimie, &c., have made 

 another observation which ought here to be noticed : they say: 

 ' The experiments of M. Braconnot leave no doubt that the 

 acid of houseleek, and consequently that of apples, are the same 

 as that from sorbus berries.' Now, let us inquire what these 

 experiments were. In Braconnot's first paper he admits that 

 sorbic acid is a new one, diiferent from Scheele's malic acid ; he 

 quotes my process for preparing the former, and analyzes se- 

 veral of its compounds. In his second paper he recounts a 

 series of experiments on the juice of houseleek, his object being 

 to procure pure malic acid. But during these efforts he disco- 

 vered the above-mentioned mucous matter which possesses the 

 power of masking the properties of the acid ; and having found 

 means of detecting it, he ascertained that the acid thus purified 

 agrees, in all its properties, with the sorbic acid, contrarily to 

 the opinion of Vauquelin, reiterated by me, that houseleek 

 contains nothing but Scheele's malic acid. He concludes with 

 a description of the properties of the brown mucous matter. 

 This is the whole substance of M. Braconnot's two papers. 

 I do not perceive how they leave no doubt that the acid of 

 houseleek, for it was on that he experimented, ' and conse- 

 quently that of apples,' are the same as that from the sorbus 

 berries. Braconnot described no experiments on the acid of 

 apples ; his object was to show that the acid of houseleek pos- 

 sesses properties which are also exhibited by the acid found by 

 me both in apples and in sorbus berries, thereby proving that 

 sorbic acid may be derived from these three sources, but by 

 no means affording any evidence that apple-acid and sorb-acid 



