336 
BORACIC ACID. 
ART. LXII.— COMPOUND OF BORON AND OXYGEN.i 
AC'IDUM BORA'CICUM. BORACIC ACID. 
History. — Beccher (Thomson's History of Chemistry, 
vol. i. p. 24S. Lond. 1S30,) " was undoubtedly the first dis- 
coverer of horacic acid, though the credit of the discovery has 
usually been given to Romberg," who, in 1702, (Histoire de 
VAcademie Roy ale des Sciences, 1702; Memoires, p. 50,) 
obtained it in small shining plates, which have been called 
Sedative or Narcotic Salt (Sal sedativum Hombergi.) In 
the year 1776 it was discovered in the lagoons (Lagoni) of 
Tuscany by Hoefer* and Mascagni,t and more recently by 
Mr. Smithson Tennant,t Dr. Holland, § and Mr. Lucas,|| in 
the crater of Volcano, one of the Lipari Islands. 
Natural History. — Boracic acid is peculiar to the in- 
organized kingdom. It is found both free and combined. 
a. Free Boracic Acid. — The boracic acid lagoons of Tuscany are spread 
over a surface of about thirty miles. There are nine establishments for 
the manufacture of this acid; viz. at Monte Cerboli, Monte Rotondo, 
Sasso, Serazzano, Castelnuovo, San Frederigo, Lustignano, Lurderello, 
and Lago. They are the property of one individual, (M. Tarderel, now 
Count de Pomerance,) to whom they are the source of great wealth. The 
earth (principally calcareous) of this part continually evolves aqueous and 
sulphurous vapours, which, when they burst with a fierce explosion, pro- 
duce boracic acid.^f The phenomena are explicable on the supposition, 
* Memoria snpra il sale sedativo di Toscana ed il Borace, &c. Firenze, 
1778. Uebers von B. F. Hermann. Wien. 1782. 
| Memorie della Socieia Italiana, viii. 487. 
^ Transactions of the Geological Society, vol. i. p. 388. 1811. 
§ Travels in the Ionian Islands, Albania, Thessaly, Macedonia, <$rc. during 
the years 1812 and 1813, p. 9. Lond. 1815. 
|| Ann. Chim. et de Physiq. t. ii. p. 443. 1819. 
T[ For farther details consult Tancred, On the Collection of Boracic Acid 
from the Lagoni of Tuscany, in the Transactions of the Ashmolean Society, 
1 This article constitutes a chapter in Pereira's Materia Medica and 
Therapeutics, now in the course of publication, and shortly to be issued- 
Edited by J. Carson, M. D. Publishers, Lea & Blanchard. 
