ROSEMARY. 373 
aver that it should not lie below 0°900, or in any case not lower 
than 0°890*. French oil of rosemary examined by Bruylants + 
was found to contain 80 per cent. of a levogyrate hydrocarbon 
HC, 4 to 5 per cent. of Borneol C,)H,,0, and 6 to 8 per cent. of 
a camphor C,)H,,0. 
All oils of rosemary are apt to turn yellow and oxidize by age, 
especially if kept in bottles which are badly stoppered or not full. 
Such resinified oils can simply be rectified by Dragendorft’s process 
with a current of steam. Small quantities can so be operated upon 
in a tubulated glass retort, into which a glass tube is passed almost 
to the bottom; this tube, containing a little light packing of 
cotton, is connected with a flask in which water is heated to strong 
ebullition, by which means steam is passed through the oil. About 
68 per cent. of oil can thus be recovered, quite colourless and 
mobile, and almost as good as freshly prepared oil. The residue 
in the retort consists principally of rosemary camphor. 
The Cedrella Rosmarinus (Loureiro, ‘ Cochinchinensis,’ p. 160), 
or ‘ Rosemary bastard-cedar,” is a shrub of about 4 feet in height, 
native of Cochin China and about Macao in China, and is said to 
yield an oil very similar to rosemary oil. 
* Bericht, April 1891. 
f+ Journ. de Pharm. [4] xxix. p. 508. 
