108 MELALEUCA MINOR 



in 1823, has thus described the method there adopted for obtain- 

 ing the oil : " The leaves are gathered in the latter end of 

 September, and put into the cucurbit of a copper alembic sur- 

 mounted by a neck, terminated by a capital without a refrigera- 

 tory, and a sufficient quantity of water is then added. By dis- 

 tillation this liquid is made to traverse a worm immersed in a 

 hogshead filled with water, and is collected in a vessel." Bick- 

 more, an American traveller, who visited the same island in 1865, 

 also states that the oil is obtained by submitting the leaves to 

 distillation with water, the operation being conducted in the most 

 primitive manner. 



Cajuput oil is imported from Singapore and Batavia in glass 

 beer or wine bottles. By far the largest quantity of oil is obtained 

 from Celebes, an island on the west of Bouro in the Molucca Sea ; 

 but some is also imported into Singapore from Java, Manilla, 

 Bouro, and other places. 



General Characters and Composition. Oil of Cajuput or Cajeput 

 is a transparent limpid liquid, of a pale blueish-green colour; a 

 strong, penetrating, agreeable, camphoraceous odour ; and a warm, 

 bitterish, aromatic, camphoraceous taste, succeeded by a sensation 

 of coldness in the mouth. It is very volatile and inflammable. Its 

 specific gravity has been found to vary from 0*914 to 0*930, 

 averaging probably about 0*926 ; it boils at 343. It is wholly 

 soluble in alcohol. The researches of Schmidt and of Gladstone 

 show that cajuput oil is essentially composed of Bihydrate of 

 Cajuputene or Cajuputol. Cajuputene is a hydrocarbon, and 

 possesses an agreeable odour resembling that of hyacinths. 



The remarkable green colour of cajuput oil has been attributed 

 to a salt of copper derived from the vessels in which it 

 is distilled, but neither Brande, Goertner, nor Pereira could 

 detect copper in specimens examined by them. Lesson also, 

 who, as already mentioned, witnessed the process for obtaining 

 the oil at Bouro, believed the green colour to be natural 

 to it, and, moreover, Guibourt has proved that the volatile oils 

 obtained by the distillation of the leaves of several other species 

 of Melaleuca and of allied plants have naturally a fine green hue. 



