GO 
Selected Articles. 
oxalic acid could be suspected in the salt, inasmuch as nei- 
ther of these acids are known to form acid salts with lime. 
4. The precipitate procured by the acetate of lead was 
well washed with distilled water, and then heated in the same* 
to the boiling point. It almost entirely disappeared. But 
upon allowing the liquid to cool, the salt of lead separated 
and formed upon the surface and around the edges of the li- 
quid, groups of the most brilliant satin like crystals. The 
crystals in these groups were extremely slender, diverging 
from the common centre of the group with the most perfect 
regularity. Solubility in hot, and insolubility in cold water 
are characteristic of the malate of lead. But the novel and 
very peculiar crystallization just described made me hesitate 
at first in pronouncing this precipitate a malate. Berzelius de- 
scribes it as collecting " Sous la forme d'ecaillesblanches ayant 
1'eclat de l'argent." Afterwards however meeting with Woh- 
ler's process for obtaining malic acid, I found that pure ma- 
late of lead crystallizes as I have described. It is not neces- 
sary for the production of this peculiar form of crystalliza- 
tion, that the precipitate should be washed and re-dissolved, 
for I have since found that the usual flocculent precipitate if 
heated in the supernatant liquid, and then left for some time 
undisturbed, is transformed into an assemblage of radiating 
groups such as have been described. 
5. Ten grains of the salt obtained from the berries were ex- 
posed to a white heat, in a platinum capsule, until the water 
and acid were entirely expelled. The lime remaining weigh- 
ed 1.25 grains. This result accords very closely with the 
composition of bi-malate, as determined by Braconnot.* Ac- 
cording to that chemist, as quoted by Thomson, the consti- 
tuents of the bi-malate are 
2 atoms malic acid, 
1 " lime, 
6 " water, 
17.00 
3.50 
6.75 
27.25 
*Yide Thomson's Organic Chemistry, Vol. II. 
