SANTAL. By 
about 50 lbs. are put into the still. As much water is then added 
as will just cover the chips, and distillation is carried on slowly for 
ten days and nights, by which time the whole of the oil is ex- 
tracted. As the water from time to time gets low in the still, 
fresh supplies are added from the heated contents of the refrige- 
rator. The quantity of oil yielded by wood of good quality is (by 
this process) at the rate of 10 ozs. per maund of 25 lbs. or 2°5 per 
cent. It is transparent and of a pale yellow colour, and has a 
resinous taste and sweet peculiar smell. The sp. gr. is about 
M9807: 
The new British Pharmacopeeia requires the sp. gr. to be 0°96, 
a figure which by large distillers is considered too low, although a 
sample examined from the India Museum had a sp. gr. at 65° F. 
of 0°9901; and a perfectly pure specimen distilled in Mysore 
specially for the Pharmaceutical Society was found to have a 
sp. gr. at 16° C. of 0°9896. These great densities are attributed 
to the crude method of distilling over a bare fire. Oils distilled in 
Germany from the best materials have been found to mark a 
sp. gr. at 15° C. of 0970 to 0'978. A larger yield is obtained in 
Germany by reason of more effective appliances being used to 
thoroughly disintegrate the wood and distil out the oil. 
According to Dr. Dymock, as much as 12,000 lbs. of this 
** Indian ”’ oil are imported into Bombay from the Malabar coast, 
being worth 84 rupees per lb., and used chiefly for perfumery. It 
is imported into this country to the extent of not more than 1500 
Ibs., and often reaches England in a discoloured state, adulterated 
with fixed oil and containing traces of water. It is rejected by 
wholesale druggists for medicinal purposes, and is entirely used in 
perfumery. 
Although the English distilled oil realizes a higher price than 
either Indian or German oil, it is believed that the Continental 
distillers are far in advance of the British in their superiority both 
of plant and of the knowledge necessary 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 Indian oil may be adulterated betore siiipment with various 
fixed oils, such as those of sesame and cotton-seed, and even with 
santal-tree-seed oil, which is used as lamp oil in Mysore. A 
* ¢Pharmacopceia of India,’ p, 461. 
