BALSAMUM COPAIBA. . 231 



dextrogyre.and also several samples imported in 1877 fromMaturin (near 

 Aragua, Venezuela), and Maracaibo into Hamburg, whereas we found Pajd 

 balsam to be levogyre.^ 



The Para and Maranham balsams are regarded in wholesale trade as 

 distinct sorts, and experienced druggists are able to distinguish them 

 apart by odour and appearance, and especially by the greater consistence 



Maranham druof. 



O 



as 



variety, but is now rarely seen in tlie English market. West Indian 

 copaiba is usually said to be of inferior quality, but except that it is 

 generally opalescent, we know not on what precise grounds. 



Chemical Composition — The balsam is a solution of resin in 

 volatile oil; the latter constitutes about 40 to GO per cent, of the balsam," 

 according to the age of the latter and its botanical origin. The oil 

 has the composition C^H"^ ; its boiling point is 245° C. or even higher. 

 It smells and tastes like the balsam, and dissolves in from 8 to 30 parts 

 of alcohol 0-830 sp. gr. The oil exhibits several modifications differing 

 in optical as well as in other physical properties, but numerous samples 

 of the drug, either dextrogyre or levogyre, invariably afforded us essential 

 oils deviating to the left"; their sp. gr. varies from about O'SS to 001. 



After the oil of copaiba has been removed by distillation, there remains 

 a brittle amorphous resin of an acid character soluble both in benzol 

 and amylic alcohol, and yielding only amorphous salts. Sometimes 

 copaiba contains a small amount of crystallizable resin-acid, as first 

 pomted out in 1829 by Schweitzer. By exposing a mixture of 9 parts 

 of copaiba and two parts of aqueous ammonia (sp. gr. 0-95) to a tempera- 

 ture of— 10° C., Schweitzer obtained crystals of the acid resin termed 

 (^ojmivic Acid. They were analysed in 1834 by H. Rose, and exactly 

 measured and figured by G. Rose. H 



It agrees 

 not in any 



Qis own analyses assign to copaivic acid the formula C^ff ^01 



^^jth Maly's abietic acid from colophony in composition, but ^ 



other way. Copaivic acid is readily soluble in alcohol, and especially in 

 farmed copaiba itself; much less in ether. Wo have before us crystals, 

 no doubt of copaivic acid, which have been spontaneously deposited in 

 ^n_ authentic specimen of the oleo-resin of Copaifera ojicinalis from 

 irmidad, which we have kept for many years. The crystals may be 

 ^sily dissolved by warming the balsam; on cooling the liquid, they 

 ^am make their appearance after the lapse of some weeks. After 

 ^ecrystallization from alcohol they fuse at llG-117 C, forming an 

 aP^?! transparent mass which quickly crystallizes if touched with 



isif^? '^"^logous substance, Oxycopaivic Acid, e°H''0',was examined in 



i»4i by H. von Fehling, who met with it as a deposit in Para Copaiba. 



^ad lastly Strauss (1865) extracted Metacopaivic Acid, C-'Ils^O*, from 



fie balsam imported from Maracaibo. He boiled the latter with soda- 



>e, which separated the oil; the heavier adjacent liquid was then 



'ixed ^v-ith chloride of ammonium, which threw down the salts of the 



^^orphous resin-acid, leaving in solution those of the metacopaivic acid. 



fro^ ]^^ ^^"^ '^^'^^ separated by hydrochloric acid and recrystallization 

 ^ alcohol. We succeeded in obtaining metacopaivic acid by washing 



Mf£'-^!!J'' ^^'iggers and Husemann's ^ Or IS to 65 per cent., sp. SX. 0-915 to 



''■esbet icht iot 1867.162, and for 1868.140. 0995, according to Siebold (1877). 



