of a newly discovered vegetable acid. 24,3 
analogy of chemical nomenclature, and which has received 
the approbation of some competent judges. Until a better 
name be devised, I have called it the Sorbic Acid. 
To establish its peculiar nature, I have examined its com- 
binations with certain bases, but have confined myself to 
those of which the analogous combinations amongst the 
malates had been already examined by Scheele. The sorbic 
and malic acids not having been distinguished by that philo- 
sopher, it seemed that here the distinction ought particularly 
to be established: and the standard of comparison must 
necessarily be whatever had been ascertained of the malates 
by their discoverer. 
Sorbic acid, when perfectly pure, is a transparent, colourless, 
and inodorous fluid, soluble in alcohol, and in any proportion 
of water. When evaporated, it forms an uncrystal lizable 
solid mass which deliquesces : when subjected to distillation, 
the liquor which passes over, shows no traces of acidity. Its 
acidity is such that it causes even a painful sensation on the 
organs of taste. It is not much altered by being kept in an 
uncombined state. I have had it for more than a year in a 
corked phial, and at the end of that time, no other change 
was produced than the separation of a tenuous coagulum, 
small in quantity, as the acid was very pure, but it is more 
abundant when the acid is impure. When mixed with malic 
acid, as in fruits, this acid is the first to disappear, while the 
other retains its properties long after the commencement of 
decay in the plant. 
A quantity of malate of lead obtained from Sempervivum 
Tectorum was boiled with sorbic acid and a little water ; the 
whole, from being colourless, became somewhat brown. The 
I i 2 
