'Jo METHOD OF RESTORING RANCID ESSENTIAL OILS. 



Theoretical fpe- naked fire. But the oily produ61s of the fubfequent diftillations 



*uHf °" °V^*^ ^®^"g ^^^ ^^^^ ^* ^^^^ ^^'"^ temperature, left me no caufe for 



Jatilc oils. hefitalion in explaining the effed by a fucceflive re-aclion of 



the ether or the alcohol on the hidrogenated oil. 



A third circumftance in confirmation of this opinion is, that 

 the quantity of alcohol appeared to me to be fenfibly diminifhed, 

 and that in the fmell of the oil, which was perfedly pure, I 

 did not find the leaft trace of that of ether, which is fo eafily 

 diflinguilhable. It is true that during the repeated diflillations, 

 the eiher might have been diiCpated as well as the portion of 

 alcohol, which conflituted the difference between the original 

 and fubfequent quantities of that liquid. 



It remains, neverthelefs, to be explained how a principle of 

 the alcohol, by affimilation with the principles of the oil, fhould 

 produce precifely the proportional compound which forms the 

 fpecies of oil on which it re-a6ls. To this it may be anfwered 

 that the bafe of this oil is only difpofed to take that principle 

 which lliall replace it in its original ftate. 



But even fuppofing this explanation to be unfounded, and 

 that the influence of the ether and the alcohol fliall appear to 

 be merely concurrent circumfiances for producing a feparation 

 of the particles of oil and refloring its qualities, it is neverthe- 

 lefs certain, that the fame effect has not hitherto been produced 

 by any other means, and that my experiment furnithes us with 

 a valuable method of refloring to commerce an immenfe quan- 

 tity of effential oil, which would otherwife be of no value. 

 Second cxperl- P. S. Since the above mentioned experiment, I have made 

 another trial with an oil which flowed as thick as turpentine, 

 . and had no fmell by which the plant from which it was ex- 

 tra6ted could be diflinguifhed. I mixed four ounces of this 

 oil with two drams of fulphuric ether, and after four days dif- 

 tilled it with pure water. Two ounces and a half of oil came 

 over as clear and as fluid as fpirits of wine, having the beft 

 and mofl decided odour of wild thyme. There remained in 

 the flill two ounces of refinous matter of a dark red colour. 



In this experiment the ether certainly developed the fmell of 

 the oil on which it re-a6ted, or rather it recompofed the oil by 

 tranfmitting its hidrogenous principle to the oily bafe. 



Suefiions 



