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42
contained— as total sulphuric acid, .231 per cent.,
i.e., 1 in 433. But the learned magistrate made
the law quite clear. In one case, when there was
no longer any possibility of disputing the presence of free
sulphuric acid in the vinegar, counsel coolly suggested that
"sulphuric acid was in many cases a valuable tonic." An
amused smile from the learned magistrate stopped this
argument.
Oil of vitriol is the vernacular name for what, in chemical
language, we term sulphuric acid. In chemical shorthand
sulphuric acid is symbolized thus—H2 SO4. There is
also " sulphuric anhydride." The chemical symbols
for this are SO3. Water is composed of two parts
hydrogen and one part oxygen. Water is therefore represented
in chemical symbols thus—H2O. When SO3 is
put into water it is no longer "anhydride," but combines
with the water and exists as SO3 + H2 O, that is to say, as
H2 SO4—sulphuric acid. If put into a larger quantity ot
water the H2 SO4 is diluted by being diffused through
this larger quantity of water. When rice or maize is
steeped at a high temperature with sulphuric acid, and the
action upon the grain has been completed, it is necessary
to neutralize the sulphuric acid. This is done by the
addition of lime. Lime, in chemical language, is calcium
oxide, and is represented in symbols as CaO. Upon CaO
being mixed with the H2 SO4 then H2O and Ca SO4
are produced by the interchange of hydrogen and
calcium. Here calcium sulphate, or what in the vernacular
we call gypsum, is formed. Sulphuric acid, actually as oil of
vitriol, has here been put in. Sulphuric acid, actually as oil
of vitriol, can be got out; and the proper and only way
of certifying such a fact is to certify that the resulting
vinegar "contains its percentage of sulphuric Acid"; and,
if free or uncombined sulphuric acid is meant, it should be
certified as "free sulphuric acid." Yet eminent chemists
can be retained who take the view that such vinegar" contains
no sulphuric acid." The view they take is that, though
the oil of vitriol has been put in, and the oil of vitriol can