XLIII.—Contributions to the chemistry of tartaric and citric acid

Abstract

By the late BEAUMONT J. GROSJEAN, Chemist to Sir J. B. Lawes' Citric and Tartaric Acid Factory, Millwall: compiled from the Author's Manuscripts by R. Warington. A WORD of preface is perhaps necessary. Mr. Grosjean was associated with myself for five years, 1870-75, in the Laboratory a t Millwall, and he remained there as sole chemist from Midsummer, 1875, till his death on June llth, 1882. During this time he conducted with great care many investigations, both on methods of analysis and on processes of manufacture. A paper " On the Determiriation of Tartaric Acid in Lees and Inferior Argol, with some Remarks on Filtration and Precipitation," was communicated by him t o the Society in April, 1879. The greater portion of his results remained unpublished; they were, however, for the most part fairly written out in the form of Reports. From these Reports, from letters, and from t,he Laboratory Note-books, I have, with the consent of Sir J. B. Lawes, prepared the following abstract of a portion of his results :-Diferent Rate of Loss of Diferent Specimens of Cit& Acid irt Dry Air.I n my own earlier experiments (Chern. SOC. J., 1875, 928) the different behaviour of different samples of powdered citric acid had already been noticed. I n some cases the crystallised citric acid lost the whole of its water when placed over oil of vitriol for 4-6 days ; in other cases nothing was lost in five days. Mr. Grosjean afterwards met with similar results. I n one instance he was fortunate i n commencing on the same day determinations of water in three specimens of citric acid, which, as the experiment progressed, proved to be of VOL,. XLIII. -4