iviih Animal and Fc-getahh Snlstances. 441 



solely to be attributed to the loss of oxygen, and hydrogea 

 being abstracted in sufficient quantity by ihe nuuiatic acid 

 to form water, and to a slight separaiion of carbon at the 

 same time: in fact, tiiat the artificial camphor with a little 

 more carbon, and a certam 'juantily of oxygen and hydro- 

 gen in the proportions to constitute water, would reuirn to 

 an essential oil. 



Gehlen rejected this theory for good reasons*. Having 

 observed that in parsing muriatic acid through the essential 

 oil of turpentine, no gas was tliseiniageil ; ilial only a cer- 

 tain portion of the oil was converted into white crystals 

 having the appearance of camphor, and that the remainder 

 appeared as a brownish-black liquid of great acidity; that 

 the crystals too as well as the liquid contained muriatic acid 

 in intimate combination, &c. he has concluded, that in 

 this operation the essential oil of turpeniine is decomposed, 

 that the greatest part of its hydrogen combines with a small 

 quantilv of its carbon, and with a ceiiam portion of mu- 

 riatic f.cid, to form concrete camphor, whilst the other prin- 

 ciples of the oil combine with the remaining portion of 

 muriatic acid to form the brownisii-black liquid ; therefore 

 that this liquid contains more carbon and less hycln^gcn 

 than the campiioric concretion ; and that, in the formation 

 ^ of both, the muriatic acid acts only by ihe tendency it has 

 of uniting to them, and not, as the chemists above -quoted 

 «ay, by foriTiing a certain qnaniitv of water at the expense 

 of the principles of the essential oil. 



I repealed and varied wiih great care tlic e>:perimenis on 

 tiie essence of turpentine and imuiatie acid, made by Kind, 

 TroniKlorff, fcc, and above all by Gthlen. I obtained the 

 lollowincr rcMilts: lUO grammes of essence of turpentine 

 purified by distillation, a-.u! plunged into a freezing mix- 

 lure of ice and salt, absor'ne^rso granmscs of nmri.:tic 

 acid gas; no sjas but muriatic escapes, winch perhaps 

 was not entirely absorbed at first, or passed through ihe 

 liquid when the operation was nearly finished. The es- 

 sential oil is converted into a soft and crystalline mass, from 

 which, during its ck-siccaiion for three day, niay ia- riepa- 

 raled SOgranmiesof a liquid that contains m.'iiy crystals and 

 nearly 100 granuncs of a white substance, granular, crystal- 

 line, volatile, and having a strong smell ot cdinpiior. 1 his 

 substance quickly loses, bv exposure to tia- an, the property 

 which it at first has of reddening turnsole paper, and aher- 

 wards only very minute quantities of acid can be separated 



» ViJf Joi.riiai i!e Gthlen, tome vi. p. IJB. 



from 



