22

ON COMPOUND BODIES.

CAROLINE.

But if the basis of all the vegetable acids bo thesame, it should form but one acid ; it may indeedcombine with different proportions of oxygen, butthe nature of the acid must be the same l

MRS. B.

The only difference that exists in the basis ofvegetable acids, is the various proportions of hy-drogen and earbone from which it is composed.But this is enough to produce a number of acidsapparently very dissimilar. That they do not, how-ever, differ essentially, is proved by their suscepti-bility of being converted into each other, by theaddition or subtraction of a portion of hydrogen orof earbone. The names of these acids are,

The AceticOxalicTartarousCitricMalicGallicMucousBenzoicSuccinicCamphoricSuberic

Acids of double bases, be-ing of vegetable origin.