bii 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUftiST, 



tJt'NE i^ i8S6, 



wood is brought before distillatioD. This is effected 

 by first iucisiug or cliipping the logs by powerful 

 niacbintry, aud tlieii disintegrating them with special 

 teariug or rasiiiiig apparatus or with mill stores. 



The Indian oil, in Mr. Vmney's opinion, is im- 

 ported iuto this country to the extent of not more 

 thau 16W lbs., and often reaches England in a 

 discoloured state, containing fixed oil and traces of 

 water, and is rejected by wholesale druggists for 

 medicinal purposes, the whole import being purchased 

 for use ill perfumery.* 



The esseniial oil distilled in this, country realizes 

 a higher price thau either Indian or German oil; the 

 latter in some cases contains oil from cedar wood or 

 inferior sandal wood mixed during the process of 

 difitillation. Mr. Umney believes that the continental 

 distillers are far in advance of the British in their 

 superiority both of plant and of the knowledge 

 necesFary for the production of this and other 

 essential oils, two well known German firms probably 

 distilling three-quarters of the whole quantity used 

 in Europe. 



The above statement concerning the adulteration 

 of oil of sandal wood having reached me from several 

 sources, I obtained a sample of the oil, as well as a 

 number of commercial samples of sandal wood oil, 

 with a view to ascertain what variation might exist 

 ill their specific gravity. Examined at my request by 

 by Mr. AV. H. Ince the followhig results were" 

 obtained :t— : 



Distilled in Sp. gr. Source, 



1, Germany *9797 E. Indian wood 



L'. Germany, same, firm ... "9754 E. Indian wood, 



y. Germany, different firm ... 'HTdS E. Indian wood. 



4. Germany, same firm as 1,^ •ft738 Macassar wood. 



5. (iermany, same firm as 1, 2 -OfirjO W. Indian wood. 



6. English '911'd E. Indian wood. 



It will be observed that with the exception of No. 

 5 all the specimens were of higher specific gravity 

 than that recognized in the new British Pharmacoptbia, 

 0'96, although lower than a sample obtained from the 

 India Museum, and which had a specific gravity of 

 •9901. The Pharmacopwia of India gives the specific 

 gravity as '9S0, and the United States Pharmacop<eia 

 •94(3. It is probable, therefore, that none of the 

 samples examined by Mr. Ince could have been adulter- 

 ated with cedar wood oil, since the addition of that 

 oil (o£ specific gravity "9480) would have lowered the 

 density. The low specific gravity given in the T'^uited 

 States Pharmacopceia indicates, however, the possib- 

 ility of the West Indian oil being used extensively 

 in that country. This supposition agrees with the 

 information I have received from distillers of the oil, 

 that this oil is chiefly exported to the United States. 

 Mr. T. Parries also informs me that it has very little 

 sale either in this country or in Australia. 



The oil of cedar wood obtainable in commerce is 

 even more free from colour than sandal wood oil, and 

 if prepared, as I am informed, from the refuse 

 of cedar pencil works is probably rectified carefully 

 to free it from colour, since the oil distilled from a 

 closely allied species, J. Bennudiana^ in Jamaica, by 

 M. Bowrey, judging from a specimen recently pre- 

 sented by him to the Museum of this Society, has 

 a reddish-brown colour. A sample of oil of cedar 

 obtained in English commerce has been, at my re- 

 quest, examined in the Society's laboratory by Mr. 

 Sv. H. Ince, who finds that it has a specific gravity 

 of '94.^0, and treated with various reagents presents, 

 as compared with a sample of East Indian oil of 

 sandal wood of specific gravity 9901, received from 



* According to Dr. Dymock as much as 12, (KM) Ihs. 

 of this oil are imported into Bombay from the Malabar 

 coHst, the oil being worth ^i rupees per lb., and it 

 is used chiefly for perfumery. 



t I am informed by Mr. A. C Abraham that two 

 samples of the oil purchased in London gave respectively 

 the specific gravity '975^ and l*?!!. The (iorman 

 speoimeiie wert} vbt»iut:d ^fruiu firm» of the liigheo; 

 veputatica. 



the late Eaiit India Museum, the following characters : — 



Cedar oil. Sandal wood oil. 



Concentrated sul- Burnt sienna Brown with black 



Phuric acid ... colour. clots 

 Chromic acid ... Brown with 



black clots Ditto. 



Nitric acid ... Brown colour Brown colour. 

 Concentrated so-'i 



lution of chlo- > No result. ( Makes it gelatiu- 



ride of zinc J \ ous. 

 Solution of bro-") 



mine in chloro > No result. No result. 



form ) 



Murcuric chloride. No result. No result. 



Hydrochloric acid. No result. No result. 



The specific gravity of oil of cedar wood being 

 considerably lower than that of samial wood, it 

 occurred to me that it would be important to 

 determine the quantity of the former that could be 

 addded to sandal wood oil without being readily 

 detected by the diflterence in specific gravity. Mr. 

 Ince kindly made some experiments for me with 

 this end in view. These were conducted in a room, 

 the temperature of which was t>5*^ F. 



The addition of lU per cent, of cedar oil was found 

 to lower the specific gravity of the oil from the India 

 Museum to ■97^9, or rather higher than the average 

 specific gravity of the *' East Indian" oil of commerce. 



In order to see if this (juantity of adulteration 

 could be detected by the greater or less solubility of 

 the oil in alcohol, some experiments were made on 

 the solubility of the various oils with alcohol of 

 different strengths. From these experiments it results 

 that cedar wood oil forms a white cloudy mixture 

 with its own volume of methylated alcohol of specific 

 gravity "839, while No. 1 (see table) is perfectly 

 soluble ; but one volume of an equal mixture of sandal 

 wood oil and cedar oil under the same conditions 

 dissolves perfectly. 



It being thus evident that sandal wood oil might 

 be adulterated with half its volume of cedar oil 

 without being detected by the use of spirit of this 

 strength, proof spirit was next tried, but neither 

 oil being perfectly soluble in it, a mixture of 1 part 

 of proof spirit and 3 of rectified spirit was used. This 

 had a specific gravity of '920. "With this solvent 

 the following results were obtained : — 



Nos. 1 and 3 dissolved in an ecjual volume of it. 

 Of the oil from the India Museum and No. U, one 

 c.c. required II c.c. to dissolve it. Of No. 4. one c.c. 

 required 13 c.c. of the solvent. One c.c. of oil of 

 cedar required 5 c.c. for solution, but lU per cent of 

 the latter oil addtd to the India Museum oil in- 

 creased its insolubility very slightly, 1 per cent re- 

 quiring only 1"3 c.c. of the solvent. 



ConcU'sions. — From the above facts it appears that 

 whilst oil of cetlar may be recognized by its inso- 

 lubility in an equal volume of alcohol of specific 

 gravity ■920, its admixture with sandal wood oil to 

 the extent of 10 per cent cannot be easily detected. 

 It is quite possible that the higher specific gravity 

 and less solubility of the oil from the India Museum 

 may be due to an admixture* of some fixed oil, 

 possibly of sandal tree seed oil, which is u|ed for 

 lamp oil in Mysore. 'rhi» queNtiou, however, can 

 only be settled by the distillation of the wood and 

 examination of the oil in India by a competent chemist. 

 The west Indian oil, as shown in ' Pharu-.acographia/ 

 may be detected by its optical properties, and is 

 probably derived from an undescribed Kutaccous tree. 

 The specific gravities obtained indicate that the figure 

 given in the B.P. is too low. The oil originally 

 recommended for use in medicine by Dr. T. B. 

 Henderson in the Medical Timf.- and tnizetfr (fTune 3, 

 18()6, p. 571) was that of iS". oJludn var. />'. myrti-' 

 JoUuDi, the wood of which is said ('Pharmacographia, 

 '2nil edition, p. 602) to be nearly inodorous. But it 



* Tested for sesame and cotfon seed oils negative 

 results were obtained. But the greater insolubility of 

 the Indiau oil and higher s|)ecific gravity indicates the 

 probability of fizej ci] bewif preiuit iu ti. 



