aqa ACTION OF MURIATIC ACID ON 6UGAR. 



yield pyiomu- was introduced into a very small retort, and gradually 



cousaei.', but distilled to dryness; no carbon became deposited, nor was 



does when dis- . . ,. . . . . rp,, , 



tilled with mu- a »y aC,d distilled into the receiver. The dry mass was 



riatic acid. again dissolved m water, and again distilled along with a 



few drops of muriatic acid; abundance of carbon now 



precipitated, and acetous acid was the product found in the 



receiver along with the muriatic. 



Actionofthe As it wonld be absurd and vague to suppose such de- 



muria tic acid compositions as the above could possibly take place without 



n Sl !f-' r some ne*y substance being furnished, and as the caloric 



something ... 



analogous to would have been quite insufficient had not muriatic acid 



the action of \y een prese nt, we must of consequence suppose, that this 



the nit. ic; . ^ . i r - u- . • 



some element acid is a compound body, capable or iurnishing something 



must be fur- analogous to that furnished by the nitric acid to sugar in 

 nished, ° ' . ° 



similar situations; for the nitric in fact beside the oxalic 



forms a portion of malic acid, the quantity of which de- 

 pends on circumstances. In some cases instead of finding 

 oxalic acid I have found nearly the whole product n:alic 

 acid, at the same lime that something like carbon was de- 

 posited*. But if a part of the muriatic acid is furnished, to 

 cause the elements of sugar to be differently arranged, of 

 • course it must be decomposed ; that is, it must be reduced 

 into its primary elements. The following fact is analogous : 

 when the nitric acid changes the sugar into the oxalic acid, 

 oxigen is furnished, and the other element, the azote, is 

 given off in a combination with a smaller portion of oxigen, 

 Some part of in the form of nitrous gas. This analogy would lead us to 



the muriatic sup p se, that to change sugar into the malic acid, at least 



acid must dis ri ..'-,. 



appear aid be some part of the muriatic must disappear, and enter along 



depomposed. w j t ^ tne gasseous elements into the composition of the pro- 

 ducts, viz. the rnalic and acetous acids , not indeed in the 

 form of muriatic acid, but in the form of some of its 

 primitive elements. But before we can say much more 

 on this subject, we must obtain positive evidence of its par* 

 tial disappearance, because without such evidence, a nearly 

 similar explanation of the above fact might be given, as that 

 which Mr. Kind gave when he observed the change, that 

 oil of turpentine underwent when acted upon by muriatic 



* la this case I cannot answer for the purity of the acid. The nitric 

 of commerce sometimes contains muriatic acid. 



ga«. 



