8s Dr. Thomson on Oxalic Acid. 
Carbonic acid 
33*1 
Inflammable air 
13-5 
Water 
6.4 
Charcoal - 
2.6 
55 - 6 
Had the experiment been made upon 100 grains of oxalic 
acid instead of 55.6, it is clear that the proportions would have 
been as follows. 
Carbonic acid 
59-53 
Inflammable air 
24.28 
Water 
11.51 
Charcoal 
4.68 
100.00 
The most remarkable circumstance attending the decompo- 
sition of oxalic acid by heat, is the great proportion of carbonic 
acid formed; the quantity amounts to 6-ioths of the whole 
weight of acid decomposed. 
As the composition of all these products of oxalic acid is 
known with considerable accuracy, it is obvious that they fur- 
nish us with the means of ascertaining the constituents of that 
acid itself. 
59-53 grains of carbonic acid are composed of 
Grains. 
Oxygen 42.86? 
Carbon 16.67 
59-53 
24.28 grains of inflammable air, according to the analysis 
given in a preceding part of this paper, are composed of 
