III. Notes of researches on the acids of the lactic series.—No. IV. Action of zinc upon oxalic ether and the iodides of methyl and ethyl mixed in atomic proportions

The reaction of zinc upon oxalic ether in the presence of iodide of amyl, the results of which we hope very shortly to have the honour of laying before the Royal Society, had led us to anticipate, that if an oxalate of one organic radical were treated with the iodide of another, one atom of diatomic oxygen in the oxalic ether would be replaced by two different monatomic radicals. This anticipation was not, however, realized, as we have already shown, when the reaction was extended to a mixture of iodide of ethyl with oxalate of methyl, and iodide of methyl with oxalate of ethyl. In both these cases the radicals presented in the form of iodides were the only ones entering into the composition of the resulting acids, which proved to have respectively the composition of leucic or diethoxalic acid, C2 { (C2 H5 )2 OH ―― O OH and dimethoxide acid, C2 { (CH3 )2 OH ―― O OH