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journal of Pharmacology, 



Devoted to the Advances Made in Materia Medica in its Branches. 



Pharmacy, Pharmacognosy, Chemistry, Botany, Pharmaco- 



Dynamics, Therapeutics and Toxicology. 



Printed for the Alumni Association of the College of Pharmacy of the City of New York, 

 by The New Era Printing Company, Lancaster, Pa. 



Vol,. V. 



DECEMBER, 1898. 



No. 12. 



The Chemistry of Sassafras.* 



By Dr. Clemens Kleber. 



LIBRARY 



NEW YORK 

 BOTA 

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The character of sassafras, so far as it has been elucidated by scientific 

 investigations, consists practically of the chemistry of the essential oils 

 that can be distilled from the various parts of the sassafras tree, for with 

 the exception of a red matter, termed sassafroid, which is formed in fresh 

 sassafras roots when exposed to the air, and which seems to be an oxida- 

 tion product of some tannin-like matter, no other derivative of the plant 

 has so far been the subject of chemical researches. 



The well-known article of commerce that is called simply oil of sassafras 

 is distilled exclusively from the sassafras roots, and chiefly from the bark 

 of the root, though also some oil, apparently of the same composition can 

 be obtained from the wood of the root. The wood and the bark of the 

 stem contain but traces of oil. On the other hand, there are only a very 

 few drugs that contain so high a percentage of volatile oil as does the 

 bark of sassafras root, which yields not less than six to nine per cent, of it 

 while from the wood of the root generally less than one per cent, is ob- 

 tained. 



The oil of sassafras bark, when freshly distilled, is an almost color- 

 less liquid, but when exposed to light and air it gradually assumes a yel- 

 low, reddish or even brown color. Its specific gravity is between 1.07 and 

 1.08, with an optical rotation to the right, varying from + 2 to + 4 

 degrees, the degree of rotation being lower as the specific gravity rises. 



* Read at a meeting of the New York College of Pharmacy. 



