350 ON THE PREPARATION OF SUCCINIC ACID. 
The formation of succinic acid is effected with equal ease 
and rapidity by putrefying fibrine or putrefying cheese ; the 
latter is especially adapted for this purpose ; the following 
proportions prove to be most advantageous : — 3 lbs. of crude 
malate of lime, as it is obtained from the expressed juice of 
the berries of the mountain ash,* after being twice or thrice 
washed with water, is mixed with 10 lbs. of water at 104°F. 
in an earthen pan, and 4 oz. of putrid cheese, which has 
been previously rubbed into an emulsion with water, is 
added to the mixture. When kept between 86° and 104°, 
a disengagement of gas very soon begins, which continues 
from five to six days (longer at a low temperature.) In 
another experiment with 15 lbs. of malate of lime, the fer- 
mentation was over in four days. 
When every sign of fermentation has disappeared, the 
granular crystalline deposit is collected upon a strainer, 
washed several times with cold water, and the succinic acid 
then separated by means of sulphuric acid. For this pur- 
pose, the crude succinate (and carbonate) of lime is mixed 
with dilute sulphuric acid until no further effervescence is 
perceptible, and the quantity of sulphuric acid consumed 
is noted down. Upon this an amount of dilute sulphuric 
acid equal to that consumed is added to the paste, and the 
entire mixture heated to boiling, and kept at this tempera- 
ture until the granular consistence has entirely disappeared. 
The liquid is separated from the gypsum formed by the fil- 
tration through a linen bag, the gypsum washed, and the 
acid liquid concentrated by evaporation ; it contains in 
solution a mixture of bisuccinate of lime with succinic acid. 
When it has been so far evaporated that a crystalline pelli- 
cle begins to form on the surface, concentrated sulphuric 
acid is added to it in small portions until no further preci- 
* In this country the malate of lime might probably be obtained 
from culinary rhubarb according to the process described by Mr. 
Everitt, Chem. Gaz.. vol. i., p. 248, [or from sumac berries in the U. 
States.— Ed.] 
