STYRAX LIQUIDUS. 275 



water, and a little more carbonate of sodium than the quantity required 

 for saturation are mixed. The bromhydrocinnamate of sodium partly 

 splits up immediately, even at 0°, according to the following equation 

 C«H5.CH2.CHBr.COONa = CO^ + NaBr + CH'.CH.CHl 



Bromhydrocinnamate of sodium. StyroL 



24 parts of bromhydrocinnamic acid, recrystallized from boiling 

 bisulphide of carbon, yield about 7 parts of styrol ; no other method 

 affords as much as this. 



Styrol has been discovered in Styrax, but is not regularly, and at 

 all events to a minute amount only, found in the drug of the present 

 day. We have no explanation for the strange fact that it was appar- 

 ently more abundantly met with in former times. 



Lastly there has been found in Liquid Storax, by J. H. van t'Hoff 

 (1876), about 04 per cent, of an essential oil, probably C""H"^0 ; Miller 

 also pointed out a compound ether of probably the same (alcoholic) 

 substance as occurring in styrax. 



By the action of oxidizing agents, as nitric or chromic acids, or per- 

 oxide of lead, the cinnamyl compounds are easily reduced, carbonic acid 

 and water being evolved ; and at the same time benzoic acid, bitter 

 almond oil, and hydrocyanic acid are produced. These compounds are 

 in fact abundantly evolved when 6 parts of Liquid Storax are gently 

 warmed with 1 p. of caustic soda, and then mixed with 3 p. of perman- 

 ganate of potassium dissolved in 20 p. of water. 



We have examined several samples of Liquid Storax of average 

 quality, and found by exposure of small quantities to the heat of the 

 steam bath, that it lost from 10 to 20 per cent, of water. The remainder 

 treated with alcohol yielded a residue amounting to 13 to 18 per cent., 

 consisting chiefly of fragments of bark and inorganic iiapurities. The 

 percentage of the drug soluble in alcohol, to which is due its therapeutic 

 value, thus amounts to 56 to 72. This part, as may be inferred from 

 the foregoing statements, consists chiefly of storesin, the various com- 

 pound ethers above mentioned, of cinnamic acid and of styracin, no 

 doubt in greatly varying proportions. 



Commerce — The annual production of Liquid Storax was estimated 

 by Campbell in 1855 as about 490 cwt. for the districts of Giova and 

 IJlla, and 300 cwt. for those of Marmorizza and Isgengak. The drug is 

 exported in barrels to Constantinople, Smyrna, Syra and Alexandria. 

 Some is also packed with a certain proportion of water in goat-skins, 

 and sent either by boats or overland to Smyrna, where it is transferred 

 to barrels and shipped mostly to Trieste. 



The chief consumption of Liquid Storax would appear to be in 

 Lidia and China. Li the fiscal year 1866-67, Bombay imported 319 

 cwt. from the Red Sea. Liquid Storax is seldom seen in the London 

 drug-sales. 



Uses — Liquid Storax, which the British Pharmacopceia directs to 

 be purified by solution in spirit of wine, is an ingredient in a few old- 

 fashioned preparations but is hardly ever prescribed on its own account. 

 It is stated to be expectorant and stimulant, and useful in chronic 

 bronchial afiections. It has been recommended by Pastau, Berlin 

 (1865), as an external application for the cure of scabies, for which 

 purpose it is mixed with linseed oil and now largely used. 



