ON OXALIC ACIP. 



Cai^Donic acid 2w + c weight- • l6'5- 



Carburetted hidrogen c + 2h 6*5 



Carbonic oxide iv -\- c 10*5 



Water w -\- h 7 



Charcoal c 4-5 



We may now conceive 3 particles of oxalic acid to be de- 

 composed at once, and to resolve themselves into these sub- 

 stances, in the following proportions: 



4 particles of carbonic acid rr 8 w -\- 4 e 



2 particles of carburetted hidrogen zr '2 c + 4 A 



2 particles of carbonic oxide ^z Qw-\-2c 



2 particles of water ~ 2w +2/i 



I particle of charcoal r: Ic 



S9 



Total 12iu + 9c+6/i 



3 particles of oxalic acid zzl2io-{-Qc-\-6h 



We see that such a decomposition is possible. It remains 

 only therefore to see, whether the weights of these sub- 

 stances, which x-esult from this hypothesis, correspond with 

 Ihe preceding analysis. Now, 



4 particles of carbonic acid weigh .... 4 X 16*5 — 66 



2 carburetted hidrogen •• 2 X 6*5 = 13 



2 ■ carbonic acid 2 X lO'S = 21 



2 water 2X 7 r: 14 



1 -»—-_-.>____ charcoal 4*5 ~ 4' 5 



Total 118-5 



Reducing these proportions to 100 parts of acid, and 

 joining together the two inflammable gasses, the numbers 

 come out as follows : 



Carbonic acid ...... 55*70 we actually obtained 59'53 



Inflammable air- . • . 28-69 24*28 



Water 11-81 11'51 



CharcoaJ 3-80 4*68 



100-00 100-00 



Jt is impossible to expect exact correspondence between FTypothesIs 

 jthe theory and analysis, till the numbers representing the f^'^"®^'^*^ 



w/pifrVit<i 



weights 



