quantity of the volatile oil. When the volatile oil is associated with a large quantity of fixed oil, a correction must be made for a very slight increase in weight, resulting from the heating of the fixed oil in air. For non-drying oils 0.09 per cent. of the weight

of the fixed oil found is added to the weight of the volatile oil as above obtained. By this method the author has ascertained the following percentages of volatile oil, and resin or fixed oil, in the substance named:

Zeitschr. Oest. Ap. Ver., No. 27, 1875, p. 441.

On page 320 of the Proceedings for 1873, reference is made to a method proposed by Prof. G. Dragendorff for the detection of adulteration of volatile oils, which method is based upon the difference of their solubility in alcohol more or less diluted with water. This paper is now supplemented by a series of papers, in which he relates his more recent results on the same subject. These embrace: 1. A series of oils, which, not being authentic specimens, the author did not deal with in his former communication.

2. A discussion of the question how far the solubility of essential oils in alcohol becomes altered by keeping, and how far this occurs when the essential oil has been freed from resinous substances by redistillation.

3. The demonstration of the fact that in many cases the oils met with at present in commerce do not agree with those prepared by the author.

4. The detection of essential oils in drugs, medicinal mixtures, and for the purposes of judicial investigation.

The papers are entirely too voluminous for extraction, and the reader is, therefore, referred to the originals in Ph. J. Trans., Jan. 8th and 22d, Feb. 12th, 26th, and March 11th, 1876.

Action of Chloral.-O. J. Ommen has observed, that the color reaction of chloral with oil of peppermint may also be produced with other oils by the aid of mineral acids. The coloration is produced by adding a little of the oil to a very concentrated aqueous solution of chloral, and stirring the mixture with a glass rod moistened with the acid. The coloration produced in this manner is yellowish to red-brown, and many of the oils are not at all affected. The author is of opinion that it is the hydrochloric acid produced from chloral that produces this reaction, and experiments made in this direction prove that a much larger percentage of oils are affected by the addition of a few drops of that acid, very few oils remaining colorless. Most of them assume a violet-brown to dark-green color. Ph. C. Halle, Jan. 1st, 1876, p. 1.

Oil of Turpentine.-A case of spontaneous combustion, induced by spilling a small quantity of oil of turpentine on a barrel containing chlorinated lime, is recorded in "Droguisten Zeitung." About 50-100 grams of the oil had been spilled upon the top of the barrel, when, in the course of an hour, a very penetrating odor having become evident, the barrel was opened, and the chlorinated lime was found to be red-hot to the depth of about 15 cm. The cause of this is, probably, to be looked for in the strong affinity of the

chlorine for the hydrogen of the terpen. Ph. Centralhalle, No. 27, 1875, p. 225.

Oil of Peppermint.-Roucher has found that when ordinary glacial acetic acid is mixed with about 5 per cent. of oil of peppermint, and is then allowed to stand, the mixture assumes a blue color after an hour, and then gradually becomes darker and dichromatic, appearing deep blue by transmitted, and vermilion red by reflected light. Upon the addition of water a blue substance is precipitated, which collected upon a filter, rapidly turns red, and then becomes gradually colorless. In the original solution the color gradually changes to green and, finally, yellow.

Dr. Hager, repeating some of the author's experiments, has found that the change is not as rapid as indicated. In two experiments a faint blue color was produced after standing 4-7 hours, and the dark blue color and dichroism did not appear until after 2 days, and, with an old sample of oil, not until after 3 days' standing. Fresh oil produces with glacial acetic acid an opalescent mixture, whilst old oil dissolves perfectly clear. This behavior seems to point out a ready method of distinguishing old from fresh oil of peppermint. Ph. Cent. Halle, No. 43, 1875, p. 362.

Oil of Cubebs.-A. Oglialoro obtained from 50 kilograms of cubebs, by distillation with a current of steam, about 2 litres of crude oil, which by rectification and fractional distillation yielded, 1. A terben C10H16 (0 = 16), boiling at 158-163° C. (=316.4325.4° F.), which possesses a deflection of 35.5° to the left.

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2. A sesquiterben C1H (O=16), boiling at 264-265° C. (= 327.2-329° F.), which deflects to the left (44.3°), has a specific gravity of 0.9289, and forms a handsomely crystallizing hydrochlorate, which has the composition CH,2HCl (0 = 16), melts at 118° C. (244.4° F.), and yields the terpen unchanged, when heated with water to 170-180° C. ( = 338–356° F.).

3. A hydrocarbon boiling at 262-263° C. (= 323.6-325.4° F.), which has a much lower rotating power than the above-mentioned terpens. Its composition could not be determined, since it does not combine with hydrochloric acid, and could not, therefore, be obtained entirely pure. Its composition possibly corresponds to that of the sesquiterben. Ch. C. B., No. 49, 1875, p. 776; from Ber. Chem. Ges., 8, 1357.

Oil of Roman Chamomile.-According to recent investigations this oil begins to boil at 150° C. (= 302° F.), but very little passes over until 173° C. (= 343.4° F.) is reached; between 173°

and 185° C. (= 343.4° and 365° F.), about 32 per cent. distils over; between 185° and 200° C. (=365° and 392° F.), 40 per cent.; between 200 and 250° C. (= 392° and 482° F.), 17 per cent. If the fractions so obtained are rectified a slight lowering of the boiling-point is observed. By dissolving the oil in an equal volume of alcohol, adding an equal weight of caustic potassa, allowing the solution to stand thirty-six hours, then distilling with an equal volume of water until oil ceased to pass over, and subjecting the oily distillate to fractional distillation, the author obtained two fractional portions, one of which was butylic, the other amylic alcohol. He concludes the oil of Roman chamomile is a mixture of several compound ethers, among which angelic and valerianic, butylic and amylic ethers preponderate. Zeitschr. Est. Ap. Ver., December 20th, 1875, p. 585.

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Oil of Achillea Ageratum, L.-S. de Luca has obtained and investigated this oil (see Achillea ageratum, L., in this report). It has a sp. gr. at 24° C. (= 75.2° F.) of 0.849; a portion distils over at 165-170° C. (= 329–338° F.), after which it rises and remains constant at 180–182° C. (= 356–359.6° F.). This last portion was found to have a composition corresponding to the formula of C2H4O. The oil is not affected by oxygen. That portion which distils at 165-170° C. (=329-338° F.) remains liquid at 18° C. (= 64.4° F.). The oil when treated with chlorine evolves heat, becomes turbid, then again clear, and acquires a faint red color; by neutralizing the HCl formed with carbonate of sodium, an insoluble, light brown liquid is separated, which, when distilled over chloride of calcium, yields a colored liquid. When this is mixed with dry potassa it remains liquid at first, but subsequently forms a doughy mass, which upon distillation yields the oil unchanged. When bromine is added drop by drop to the oil it reacts with a hissing sound, heat is evolved, and when the product is treated with carbonate of sodium, an insoluble oil is formed, which by treatment with potassa and distillation also yields the oil with its original properties unchanged. The author proposes to continue his researches. N. Rep. Pharm., No. 6, 1875, p. 353.

Oil of Orris.-Prof. Flückiger, after referring to the plants yielding the orris root, which seem to be Iris germanica, L., and Iris pallida, Lam., and not Iris florentina, L., as is usually assumed, gives the result of some experiments made with commercial oil of orris, obtained from the manufacturing firms Herrings & Co., of London, and Schimmel & Co., of Leipzig. The average yield of

these oils seems to amount to .01 per cent., as determined by the manufacturers. He finds that the solid component (the oil is, as is well-known, concrete in its character) of the oil is entirely devoid of odor, and analysis proved it to be myristic acid, and as it composes a large percentage of the concrete oil, the liquid and odorous volatile oil composes a very small proportion of the root, probably not more than the Tobooth part. It separates from the concrete oil as a brownish, thick liquid, when the crude oil is digested with oxide of lead, and remains liquid at a temperature of -10° C. (14° F.). The exceedingly small quantity obtained prevented further examination. Arch. Ph., June, 1876, p. 481.

Oil of Cloves.-Ed. Schaer draws attention to an adulteration of oil of cloves with, approximately, 40 per cent. of specifically much lighter oxygenated oil. The mixture boiled at between 165° and 170° C. (= 329° and 338° F.) until about one-half had distilled over, when the temperature rose rapidly to that of the boilingpoint of pure oil of cloves. The specific gravity of the adulterated oil was 0.960-0.965; its solubility corresponded to that of pure oil. Schw. Woch. Schr. f. Ph., No. 25, 1875, p. 207.

Eugenol.-Wassermann has undertaken extended researches with a view to the satisfactory establishment of the constitution of eugenol. Pure eugenol was prepared from oil of cloves, freshly distilled from the powder in a current of steam, by treatment with solution of hydrate of potassa, separating the solution from the undissolved hydrocarbon, and precipitating with hydrochloric acid, the absence of salicylic acid having been ascertained. The boilingpoint of the pure rectified product is 247.5° C. (= 477.5° F.) at the normal pressure, and its sp. gr. at 0° C. (= 32° F.) = = 1.0778 and at 18.5° C. (= 65.3° F.) 1.0630. Its alcoholic solution reduces nitrate of silver, and yields a blue color with ferric chloride. The sole products of the oxidation of eugenol are acetic acid, water, and carbonic acid, which would prove that the C,H, group contains methyl, and is in all probability methyl-vinyl, a supposition confirmed by the fact that ethyl-eugenol when oxidized yields acetic acid as well as ethylmethoxybenzoic acid. The author details the method of preparing ethyleugenol, and the action of oxidizing agents, bromine, etc., upon it, and eugenol. Journ. Chem. Soc., May, 1876, p. 706; from Liebig's Annalen.

Thymol.-Experiments made by S. Lewin seem to prove that thymol possesses greater power than carbolic or salicylic acid in arresting fermentation in sugar solutions after the addition of