June i, i886,j 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



K17 



AMEKIOAN_ OIL OK PEPPERMINT AND 

 MENTHOL.* 



At a recent meetiiii; of the I'hilailelphi.i College 

 of Phannacv. Mr. A. M. Todd, wlio is largely engaged 

 in the nmnnfai-ture of oil of peppermint and menthol 

 in Michigan, mentioned, in response to au invitation. 

 some of the results of his experience. 



Mr. Todd said that tho proces.s for the distillation 

 of oil of peppermint in nso in the United States, 

 and which has entirely superseded tho old process, 

 was introduced about twenty-five years ago, and 

 consists of using wooden vessels, steam being driven 

 through the herb placed on false bottoms. The 

 vessels are of such capacity that fifty tons of herb 

 per diem of tweuty-four hours can he workeil off. 

 ^Vhea the fresh herb is distilleil, it requires generally 

 an hour to obtain all the oil; but if it has been 

 p.irtially dried, thirty minutes will suttica to accom- 

 plish the purpose. Formerly it was the common 

 practice, to allow the water of the distillate to run 

 to wajite, and this occasioned an enormous loss of oil ; 

 now, afrer the oil has been collected from the distillate, 

 this is again used to steam through the herb,^nd as it 

 is already charged with all the oil it will hold in solution, 

 it effects a great saving in the process. The condens- 

 ation is effected by passing the di.still»te which is 

 drawn off from the body of the still though a five 

 inch pipe into a number of copper pipes, tinned inside, 

 and these are connected with block tin worms, 2 inches 

 in d.araeter and 100 feet long, connected with the 

 receivers. The first portions of the distillate are more 

 limpid than those which are drawn off afterward, and 

 the last portion is more resinous and bitter. 



To obtain the mentliol, the vessel, which Mr. Todd 

 calls the container, has an inner vessel for the purpose 

 of refrigerating the oil, and is surrounded also with a 

 wooden refrigerating ve.s.sel. In the container is a 

 valve above the bottom from which to draw off the 

 uuc«ngealed od. The oil will, in r.are iustuices, furni.sh 

 crystals without artificial cold, but generally a mi.xture 

 of ice and salt is used for n^frigeration, by which a 

 temperature of— 8^ K. is obtained. However, some 

 specimens of of oil from certain localities congeal at 21'' 

 J-'., this' being about the higbe.st temperature at which 

 the natural oil from true peppermint ha.s been observed 

 to crystallize. The mass of cry.stals .at first more 

 rt.semble paraffin than regular crystals Imt if care is 

 taken to remove the fluid portion while a low temper- 

 ature is maintained, the crystalline formation is-more 

 distinct, and will remain .solid at about 110" F. The 

 crystals formed toward the close of the process are 

 harder and firmer. The commercial crystals are finer 

 and still have some of the oil adherent, but the pure 

 and perfect crystals are more free from oily matter. 

 ■\\'hen the oil is reduced to zero, the yield of menthol 

 crystals is about 20 per cent, of the oil subjected to the 

 process, but varies, and, strange as it may seem, the 

 specific gravity of the oil has changed but one one- 

 thou.sandth from its original density. Ko far as observ- 

 ation has gone no difference in therapeutic value or 

 power has been noticed between the crystals and tho 

 liquid portion of the oil, when a pure oil is compared 

 with it. As a rule, the oils produced in Michigan are 

 of good quality, the farmer being careful of the character 

 of thi- crop ; some lots of oil have been observed con- 

 taining as ranch as 40 per cent, of alcohol. The first 

 portion of the distillate obtained in rectification is 

 inodorous, and at-S" F. yields no menthol, while the 

 last portion is extremely odorous and is also destitute of 

 menthol, but the temperature at which the separate 

 fractions boil has not been tabled. In fraetiouing 400 lb 

 of pm-c, natural oil of 91.S' specific gravity in twenty 

 pound fractions, extremely interesting residts were 

 ol)tained as to the variations in specific gravity, but not 

 having his memoranda at hand, Mr. Todd could not 

 state the changes with snfticient exactness. The first 

 fraction was obtained in about thirty minutes, the last 

 required six honrs. * 



Professor Maisch inquired whether the first or in- 

 odorous portion was as useful as the middle or aromatic 

 portion, which one would seem to regard as more 

 desirable. 



Mr. 'JVidil replied that he had never investigated thp 

 therapeutic action of the first or light portiou separately, 

 yet he did not consider it .as valuable by itself for all tlie 

 purposes for which the united friwtions were useful, 

 though it might contain some di-stinct and valuable 

 properties peculiar to itself. He had recently under- 

 taken tho study of these fractious iu their phy.sical 

 aspect, and it would also be interesting to determine 

 their therapeutic relations. The true characteristics of 

 pure essential oils seem not to have been determined and 

 laid down in the books with sufficient exactness, and 

 their study affords a field for the most fruitful research. 

 Phwiitacetttical Journal. 



*From the American Jntnutl of PhnrmeiCJ/, ilarch, 

 102 



SANDAL WOOD. » 



BV WILLIA.M KtKKBT, F.E.W.S., 



The true sandal wood tree is a native of the moun- 

 tainous p.arts of India ; but is found more especially in 

 the My.sore and Coimbatore, e.xtendiug northwards into 

 t'anara. It likewise grows on the t'oromandel Coast, 

 in Madura, Assam, and Cochin China (?). As a garden 

 plant it appears as far north as Saharunpore. The 

 same tree I or a variety) is met with in several islands of 

 the Eastern Archi|ielago, namely eastern Java, Sumba, 

 Timor, and probably others. In India the natural 

 habitat of the tree is said to have been reduced by 

 cultivation, f and it is now raised, principally from seed, 

 in (Government plantations in the Madras presidency 

 and the Mysore. 



Sandal wood is yielded by other plants of the 

 8ant(Uace-(e. In the Fiji Islands it is obtained from S, 

 Yasi, Seem. S. Spyrnlarinvi^ A. (rray, and A'. Frey- 

 ciiutiani'iii, Gaud., furnish a supply in the Sandwich 

 Islands; in. New Caledonia ^S'. Austro-Caledonicum, 

 Vieill.; in Western Australia Fiisanus spicatvs, Br. (iS. 

 spicatnm, DC, and S. ci/ynorum, Miq.) ; iu Tahiti S. 

 insi'lare, Betero. An inferior kind has been met with 

 in the Percy Isles, Kepulsi! Bay, Oape Upstart, and the 

 Palm Islands; it is the wood of E.mcurpiis latifoHa, II. 

 Br.J The wood of Plumiei'ia alha, belonging to the 

 ApoCi/n<fcra'/\s sometimes substituted for sandal wood . 

 Balfour also states that a white sandal wood, called 

 Lava or Lawa, is imported from /Zanzibar into Bombay. § 

 AN'hen the sandal wood trees have reached perfection, 

 which they do in from twenty to thirty years, having 

 then a diameter of from 9 to 12 inches just above the 

 root, at the end of the year they are either cut down or 

 dug up. if the former the roots are generally dug up 

 afterwards. Worthless branches are removed, as is 

 also the bark if the work is done properly, and the 

 trunk is buried for six or eight weeks, sometimes left 

 lying on the ground, in order that the white ants may 

 eat off the inodorous sap-wood. It is then taken up and 

 sent to the depots where it is sorted into three kinds. 

 Concerning the sorting, Buchanan*! says ; — " The deeper 

 tho colour the higher the perfume, hence the merchants 

 sometimes divide sandal wood into red, yellow and 

 white; but these are only different shades of the same 

 colour, and do not arise from any difference of species." 

 He distinctly implies that tho three kinds are derived 

 from the heart wood. To the same effect is the follow- 

 ing statement by Udoy Chand Dutt,[[ when writing of 

 white and yellow sandal wood : — '* These varieties arc 

 founded on the difference in depth of colour of the 

 heart wood." From this it appears that the statement 

 which has been made by some writers, that white sandal 

 wood is the sap wood of .S'. album, is, to say the least, 



* Paper retul before the .Sheffield Pharmaceutical and 

 Chemical Society, Fehruarv 10. 



tDrury, 'Useful Plants of India ' (1873), Lt-a. 



+ Balfour, 'Cyclopedia of India,' 2nd Ed., V. (1873). 



S Op. cit. 



*; Buchanan. ' A .Tourney from Madras through the 

 countries of tho Mysore, Canara and JMalabar,' vol. ii 

 (1807), 133. 



II U. C. Dutt. ' The Materia Mediea of the Hindns' 

 (1877), 2'2r). 



