ACTrOtf OF MURIATIC ACI» Off SUGAR. 225 



!^n the experiment (sect. Ill) the new substances produced Thewholepro- 



during the decomposition were a quantity of the pyromu- ? u ^ £< \^ . " e 



cous acid and water. I endeavoured to ascertain their s-tion of sugar 



relative proportions to each other by proceeding on the data we»e water and 



. . -. pyromucous 



of I think Vauquelin, that the pyromucous acid differs only acid. 



from the acetic in being combined with an oil: though I did 



not succeed, being pervaded from several facts, that it 



either differs much fro n the aceicin composition, or other* 



wise that errour attends the analysis of the acetic acid by 



Dr. Hhggiiis. I however saw evidence of the production 



of water to a considerable amount; and I can entertain but 



little doubt, that the pyromucous acid consists of oxigen, 



hidrogen, and carbon, though we do not know its absolute 



composition. To explain the above facts on the basis of sir 



H. Davy's theory, we must in the first place suppose, that \^ mt * f^f* 



hidrogen must be furnished to sugar to form the malic acid compound na- 



and the pyromucous, and chat the other component part of tur e° ftlle «H** 

 1 - r . i natic acid m- 



muriatic acid, the cnlorine, must be given off m the gaseous sufficient to 



state of oximuriatic gas. But this explanation is insufficient, exij!a , in *l ie ra * 



" . , tionaie of the 



for the most delicate test that 1 could apply did not discover above facts. 



a trace of this gas. I am aware however, that a small quau- 

 tity might adhere along with the muriatic acid insensible to 

 our most delicate tests, as is certainly the case with the or- 

 dinary muriatic acid of commerce; but the quautity, which 

 according to sirH. Davy we should have a right to expect, 

 could not from us magnitude have operated in this manner. 

 In the second place it might be supposed, that both these 

 substances were furnished, vi?. the chlorine gas and hidro- 

 gen : but this supposition would not in the least tally with 

 the known component parts of the water and pyromucous 

 acid, the new products. Sugar is composed of oxigen, hi- 

 drogen, and carboj: ; and the products of the decomposition 

 are composed of the same substances, differing only in the 

 relative proportions of their component parts. Hidrogen or The strictest 



oxigen indeed might have been furnished, but no other sub- analogy w^uld 



"..■,■ , lead os natu- 



stance differing from these was furnished, nor could be fur- r ally to sun- 



nished without forming' a quaternary compound, which we are P ose ' lh ' 1 * e 



■ i ■ i* m, .. • _>• muriatic acid 



at present not acquainted with*. 1 >e excess of ingredients j 3 composed of 



ip this decomposition bein^ only in oxigen and hidrogen, and °**g$q and, hi- 

 ° drogen. 



« Consisting of oxigen, hidrogen, chlorine, a»d carbon. 



