ON OXALIC ACID. 



the acid as a constant quantity, 

 constructed upon this plan. 



The following table h 



CoiTipoucnt 

 part-' tlie acid 

 be.hg 100. 



Oxalateof Ammonia- • 



i Maj^nesia • • 



Soda 



■ Lime 



Potash 



— < — ■■■ >-. Stiontian • • 

 — • Barytes • • • • 



c.cl 



Base. 



Weight 

 of Salt. 



100 



34-12 



134-12 



100 



35 71 



135-71 



100 



57U 



157-14 



100 



CO-00 



160-00 



100 



122'8G 



222-8() 



100 



151-51 



251-51 



lioo 



142-86 



242-86 



Oxalates retam f^ j^ |y,p pvecedingr statement, no account has been taken 



little if any wa- * ° , • , • i -i, 



ter in a mode- oi the water of crystallization, which might still remam at- 



ate h a , tached to the salts,, notwithstanding the heat to which they 



were exposed. There is reason to believe, however, that 

 in most of them this water must be so small, that it may be 

 ' overlooked without any great errour. Oxalates of soda 



and of ammonia, I have reason to believe, lose all their 

 water of crystallization at a modei'ate heat. This is the 

 case also with oxalates of lime and barytes ; and I presume, 

 that the oxalates of strontian and magnesia are not excep- 



except that of tJong ; but oxalate of potash retains its water much more 

 obstinately. I believe that in this salt the weight of acid 

 and of base are nearly equal, and that when dried in the 

 temperature of 212°, it still retains nearly 10 per cent of 

 water ; but I have not been able to establish this opinion by 

 direct experiment. 



The composition of oxalate of strontjan in the preceding 

 table was so different from what I expected, that 1 repeated 

 the experiment ; but the result was the same. This in- 

 duced me to combine strontian and oxalic acid in the follow- 

 ing manner: 100 grains of a solution containing 7 grains of 

 real oxalic acid were neutralized by ammonia, and the ox- 

 alic acid precipitated by means of muriate of strontian. 

 The salt obtained weighed 12-3 grains; of course it was 

 composed of 



Acid 7 or 56-9 or 100 

 Base 5-3 43-1 75-7 



Oxalate of 

 stroniian. 



:2-3 



1 00-0 



175-7 



Thi 



