448 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
acid were used upon the 50 gram portions of wood. Here the 
powdered wood was boiled at once in dilute sulphuric acid of 
3.5%, and afterwards soaked in the strong sulphuric acid of 
90%, and again boiled, after dilution to 3.5%. 
In the hope of obtaining crystals 15 grm. of the thick syrup, 
left on evaporating the neutralized liquor from the hydrolysis by 
dilute acid after treatment with strong sulphuric acid, were 
warmed in a dish together with 10 c.c. of water, and 20 c.c. of 
strong alcohol were added. After three days it was found that 
a slimy mass had settled at the bottom of the dish. Sixty c.c. 
of strong alcohol were poured upon it, and the dish was left to 
itself in an exsiccator. No perceptible change occurred in the 
course of a fortnight; the clear brown solution was then filtered 
off and the stringy brown residue was washed with a little dilute 
alcohol. It became white under this treatment. On attempting 
to dry it on a watch-glass in an air-bath, it began to melt at 70°; 
when it was immediately taken from the bath and set aside in an 
exsiccator. Next morning the contents of the watch-glass were 
found to be solid, and numerous needle-like crystals were visible 
upon and in the midst of the mass. Under the microscope the 
crystals were well defined, and it could be seen that many of 
them had pyramidal terminations. After a time these crystals 
effloresced in dry air. The whole of the crystalline mass was 
tested for mucic acid by treating it with nitric acid of 1.15 sp. gr. 
It was oxidized completely by this acid, and a clear solution was 
obtained from which after a while a white powder was deposited. 
This precipitate was so white and of such excellent appearance 
that the treatment with ammonium carbonate, ordinarily employed 
for separating mucic acid from insoluble contaminations, was 
omitted and the precipitate was collected directly and weighed. 
Dried at 100° it amounted to 11.36% of the weight of the erys- 
talline mass, supposed to contain sugar, which had been subjected 
to the action of the nitric acid; on examination, however, the 
precipitate turned out to be not mucic acid but mere inorganic 
matter. On dissolving it in ammonium carbonate, evaporating to 
dryness and treating anew with nitric acid, only a very small pre- 
cipitate appeared, and this also was found to consist wholly of 
inorganic matter, the source of which will be suggested on 
page 464. 
