84 Dr. Thomson on Oxalic Acid. 
Hence oxalic acid is composed of oxygen 64.69 
— carbon 3178 
" — — — hydrogen 3.53 
100.00 
7. The result of two other experiments on oxalate of lime 
was very nearly the same as the preceding. The following 
may be stated in round numbers as the mean of the whole. 
Oxalic acid is a compound of 
Oxygen 64 
Carbon 32 
Hydrogen 4 
100 
8. The only other analysis of oxalic acid with which I am 
acquainted has been given by M. Fourcroy, as the result of 
his own experiments, in conjunction with those of Vauquelin.* 
It is as follows : 
Oxygen 77 
Carbon 1 3 
Hydrogen 10 
LOO 
It gave me considerable uneasiness to observe, that my experi- 
ments led to conclusions irreconcileable with those of chemists 
of such eminence and consummate skill, and it was not with- 
out considerable hesitation, that I ventured to place any reli- 
ance upon them. I am persuaded, however, that some mistake 
has inadvertently insinuated itself into their calculations ; since 
the carbonic acid alone, formed during the distillation of 
* Systems de Connois Chem. VII. 224. 
