864 INSECTICIDES, FUNGICIDES, AND WEED KILLERS. 



or rape oil, or with a resin such as rosin, by adding a base, preferably 

 caustic potash, in sufficient amount to obtain complete saponification. 

 The operation is conducted in presence of alcohol, which hastens 

 saponification and helps to render the " lysols " soluble and to impai't to 

 them a suitable consistence. The proportions in the German patent 

 are linseed oil 10 lb., coal-tar oil 10 lb., caustic potash 30 per cent, 

 alcohol 6| lb. ; or rosin 10 lb., tar oil 4 lb. ? caustic potash 7 lb., alcohol 

 7 lb. Mix the linseed oil wath the tar oil, add the caustic potash, then 

 the alcohol ; the mixture is heated to complete saponification in an 

 apparatus fitted with an ascending condenser. 



Properties. — " Lysols " are liquid, brownish oils, transparent, and 

 soluble ia water. Added to distilled water they form a limpid, mobile 

 liquid, with calcareous water they are turbid. The aqueous solutions 

 do not act on metals. "Lysols" are soluble in all proportions in 

 ethylic, methylic, and amylic alcohol, and may be mixed with benzene. 

 They possess a strong odour of creosote, and the antiseptic properties 

 of phenols without their defects. 



Action on Plants. — "Lysols" are poisonous to plants, but they 

 are less irritant and caustic than carbolic acid. When absorbed by the 

 roots they are as injurious to plants as carbolic acid. Otto showed 

 that young maize and pea plants, raised in a nutritive media, suffered 

 much if the latter contained 0-011 per cent of " lysol," and died if they 

 contained 0"025 per cent. The nutritive medium in these experiments 

 remained neutral, or slightly acid. Trials on large scale show that 

 "lysol" used in 5 per cent solution to water soil before planting 

 hindered the growth of the plant. A 1 per cent " lysol " is injurious to 

 seed potatoes of one and a half hours' steep. Solutions of "lysol " — 

 even dilute — injure aerial parts of plants if a certain strength be ex- 

 ceeded, which varies with the sensitiveness of the plant from 04-3 per 

 cent. The most delicate plants support 4 per cent spraying ; rose buds 

 are injured by spraying with 1 per cent solutions of " lysol " and the 

 leaves with 2 per cent solutions ; the shoots of the apple-tree are burned 

 and the apples spotted by a 2 per cent solution. Fleischer has published 

 the following table : — 



TABLE LXXX. — Showitig the Action of " Lysol " Solutions of Various Strengths 

 071 the Organs of Different Plants. 



Action on Fungi. — The poisonous action of "lysol" on the spores 

 of parasitic fungi is not yet well determined. A 0'5 per cent solution 



