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SELECTED ARTICLES. 
ART. LIV. — ON THE COMBINATIONS OF TARTARIC AND 
PARATARTARIC ACIDS WITH ETHER AND HYDRATE OF 
MYTELENE. By M. Guerin Varry. 
M. Guerin Varry has discovered that in the reaction be- 
tween anhydrous alcohol and tartaric acid, either with or 
without heat, a new acid is produced which he calls Tartro- 
vinic. It is obtained in the following manner: boil the alco- 
hol and tartaric acid for some time, and to the liquid add car- 
bonate of baryta until it is entirely neutralized; then decompose 
the new salt of baryta thus formed by sulphuric acid; separate 
the sulphate of baryta, and evaporate under the receiver of an 
air-pump the liquid which remains. 
Tartrovinic acid is white, with a saccharine and acid taste, 
it crystallizes in prisms with oblique bases, burns with a 
bluish flame resembling that of alcohol, and in burning emits 
the same odour as tartaric acid. 
If kept in a state of ebullition with forty times its weight 
of water during ten hours, it becomes entirely transformed 
into alcohol and tartaric acid. Decomposed by heat, it yields 
alcohol, water, acetic ether, acetic acid, carbonic acid, carbu- 
retted hydrogen, a volatile oil, and a substance resembling 
pyroacetic spirit. The residue consists of pyrotartaric acid 
and an oleaginous substance. 
The tartrovinic acid acts upon iron and zinc, with the evo- 
lution of hydrogen. 
It precipitates baryta from water; the precipitate is insolu- 
ble in an excess of acid. It has not the same effect upon 
strontia, potassa, or soda; it forms a precipitate with lime 
water, which becomes redissolved by an excess of acid. Its 
composition is — 2 atoms of tartaric acid, 1 atom of ether, and 
1 atom of water. 
This formula represents it: C 8 H 8 O 10 + C 4 H 10 -r-H 2 O. 
Tartrovinates. — These are unctuous to the touch, crystal- 
lize in handsome forms, burn with flame, fuse between 175° 
and 215°, are decomposed above this temperature, are soluble 
