C4H3O.CH2.CH2.CO2H

c4h3o.ch2.ch2.co2h, which on oxidation by bromine water and subsequent reduction of the oxidized product is converted into n-pimelic acid, ho2c(ch2)5co2h. furfurol in minute quantities can be detected by the red colour it forms with a solution of aniline acetate. furfurane--[alpha][alpha]'-dicarboxylic acid or dehydromucic acid, c4h2o(co2h)2, is formed when mucic acid is heated with hydrochloric acid at 100 deg. c. on being heated, it loses carbon dioxide and gives pyromucic acid. by digesting acetoacetic ester with sodium succinate and acetic anhydride, methronic acid, c8h8o5, is obtained; for the constitution of this acid, see l. knorr, _ber._, 1889, 22, p. 152, and r. fittig, ann., 1889, 259, p. 166. di- and tetrahydrofurfurane compounds are also known (see a. lipp, ber., 1889, 22, p. 1196; w.h. perkin, junr. _journ. chem. soc._, 1899, 57, p. 944; and s. ruhemann, ibid., 1896, 69, p. 1383). furies (lat. _furiae_, also called dirae), in roman mythology an adaptation of the greek erinyes (q.v.), with whom they are generally identical. a special aspect of them in virgil is that of agents employed by the higher gods to stir up mischief, strife and hatred upon earth. mention may here be made of an old italian deity furina (or furrina), whose worship fell early into disuse, and who was almost forgotten in the time of varro. by the mythologists of cicero's time the name was connected with the verb _furere_ and the noun _furia_, which in the plural (not being used in the singular in this sense) was accepted as the equivalent of the greek erinyes. but it is more probably related to _furvus_, _fuscus_, and signifies one of the spirits of darkness, who watched over men's lives and haunted their abodes. this goddess had her own special priest, a grove across the tiber where gaius gracchus was slain, and a festival on the 25th of july. authorities differ as to the existence of more than one goddess called furina, and their identity with the forinae mentioned in two inscriptions found at rome (_c.i.l._ vi. 422 and 10,200). furlong (from the o. eng. _furlang_, i.e. "furrow-long"), a measure of length, originally the length of a furrow in the "common field" system. as the field in this system was generally taken to be a square, 10 acres in extent, and as the acre varied in different districts and at different times, the "furlong" also varied. the side of a square containing 10 statute acres is 220 yds. or 40 poles, which was the usually accepted length of the furlong. this is also the length of {1/8}th of the statute mile. "furlong" was as early as the 9th century used to translate the latin _stadium_, 1/8th of the roman mile.