98 Drs. Blyth and Hofmann on Styrole, 



qualitative; everything crystalline and which united with 

 bases was benzoic acid; those, on the other hand, which did 

 not enter into combination were described as camphor. If, 

 on distillation, a volatile fluid body was obtained, it was con- 

 sidered sufficient to state that the substance contained also a 

 volatile oil. 



Since the discovery of the potash apparatus has introduced 

 an entirely new mode of investigation, our knowledge on these 

 points has considerably augmented. The labours of Fremy, 

 Plantamour, Simon and Deville, are rich in interesting results. 



Along with the proper balsams of Peru, Tolu, &c., there 

 is also known in commerce a material whose extraction is 

 uncertain, called liquid storax [Styrax liquidus)^ which, from 

 its properties, is closely allied to this class of substances. 

 Fluid storax has already been the subject of several investi- 

 gations. The earliest known to us is that of Bouillon- La- 

 grange*. It contains no results at all deserving of notice. 

 He considered the crystalline acid present in storax as ben- 

 zoic acid. More lately, Bonastref communicated observations 

 on fluid storax. He investigated a crystalline deposit which 

 had been formed in an alcoholic solution of the balsam long 

 kept. These crystals, which Bonastre took at first for ben- 

 zoic acid, were insoluble in cold and hot water, but soluble in 

 alcohol; the solution had no acid reaction. To this indifferent 

 crystallizable body he gave the name styracine. He found 

 the same substance, along with many others, again in an in- 

 vestigation of the American Copal J, a balsam which in many 

 points resembles storax. 



The most complete investigation of fluid storax we owe 

 more lately to Edward Simon§. This chemist first showed 

 that the acid found in the balsam, and which had been hitherto 

 taken for benzoic acid, possessed all the properties of cinna- 

 mic acid. An analysis of the silver salt made by Marchandy 

 put this beyond a doubt. Simon gave also some fuller 

 details on tlie substance named styracine by Bonastre, and 

 finally he examined the oil obtained from fluid storax by di- 

 stillation with water, and which in its properties was quite dif- 

 ferent from that prepared by Bonastre from the Copal balsam. 

 To this oil from storax he gave the name styrole. 



The investigation of this chemist is rich in interesting ob- 

 servations; on the other hand it contains in proportion but 



* Jnn, de Cfi. ct de Phys., 1st ser., t. xxvi. 

 t Journ. de P/iarm., vol. xiii. p. 149. 1827. 



J Journ. de Pharm., vol. xvii. p. 338. 1831 ; and Mag. fur Pharvi., yon 

 Geiger und Liebig, vol. xxxvi. p. 90. 

 § Liebig's A7inal., vol. xxxi. p. 265. 

 II Journ. fur Prakt. C/iem., vol. xvi. p. 60. 



