EUCALYPTUS AMYGDALINA. 



appreciably less than during the summer. The distilled oil from the foliage of E. amygdalina is 

 pale-yellow, thin, of rather pungent Cajuput-like odor, of cooling afterwards bitter taste, of 0-881 

 specific gravity, boils at from 329 to 370 F., deposits stearopten at low temperatures. Mr. J. W. 

 Osborne, who at the instance of the author subjected various Eucalyptus-oils to extensive tests for 

 the second London Exhibition, found the diminishing degree of solubility of the following substances 

 to be in the subsequent order : Camphor, Pine-resins, Mastic, Sandarac, Elemi, Kauri, Asphalt, 

 Xanthorrhcea-resin, Benzoe, Copal, Amber, Anime, Shellac, Caoutchouc, Beeswax. (See Jurors' 

 Report of the Exhibition of 1863.) Eucalyptus-oil dissolves also Gutta-Percha readily, and can 

 be used in lamps like Petroleum, with this important advantage, that it has greater illuminating 

 power, has a rather pleasant odor and is not liable to cause explosions, though it remains a 

 much more costly article. Eucalyptus-leaves found however during the earlier period of our 

 colony for years use in one of our towns for the production of light-gas. Mr. Bosisto obtained 

 10 per cent, of pearlash from the ashes of the foliage of E. amygdalina. 



Eucalyptol, first obtained by Cloez in Paris, through repeated fractional distillation, presents 

 according to him the chemical formula C 24 H 2 0* ; it is a very mobile colorless liquid, boiling at 

 347 F., of 0'905 specific gravity. It rotates polarized light to the right, remains liquid at low 

 temperatures, is little soluble in water, completely in alcohol, the solution being of somewhat rosy 

 odor when much diluted ; Eucalyptol forms when distilled with anhydrous phosphoric acid 

 Eucalypten = C 24 H 18 , a liquid boiling at 329 F. and of 0-836 specific gravity. (Compt. Rend. 

 Ixx. 678.) But Eucalyptol, according to Drs. Homeyer and A. Faust, is composed of a terpeue 

 and cymene (both hydrocarbons) and eucalyptol ; the proportions of these in various Eucalyptus- 

 oils is not the same. 



The capacity of the stills in Mr. Bosisto's factory in Western Gippsland amounts at present 

 approximately to 2,000 gallons, the produce of oil being about 12,000 Ibs. annually now ; as much 

 as 6 tons of leaves are operated on daily. These extensive operations have reduced the product 

 to a remarkable cheapness, so much so that the wholesale-price in Victoria has sunk to 2s. 6d. 

 per lb., while in the English market it is only 3s. Eucalyptus-oil, irrespective of its great 

 therapeutic value, is much used for additions to perfumery (dilution of the oils of roses, orange- 

 flowers &c.) and for select varnishes and various other technic applications. Several other 

 species yield volatile oil also very copiously, for instance E. salubris, E. salmonophloia, E. longi- 

 cornis, E. microcorys (see F. v. M., Report on the Forest-ResouiVL-s of Western Australia, pp. 

 1215, pi. xii., xiii., xiv.), but most of them being smaller trees, would not afford an equal bulk 

 of foliage. When the stems of the dwarf variety are cut, new shoots spring from the root, thus a 

 fresh crop of foliage is furnished in a few years. Sir William Denison, G.C.M.G., Sir Robert 

 Officer and Dr. Motherwell instituted in Tasmania about thirty years M.ITO some experiments for 

 the distillation of Eucalyptus-oil ; but these observations were not followed up there by any 

 practical applications in factories ; but in that island pyrolignous acid was produced from 

 Eucalyptus wood on a large scale for some years, but this operation was discontinued, perhaps 

 because the other products of dry distillation such as tar, pitch and wood-alcohol could not be 

 sufficiently utilized at the time. 



The hygienic properties of Eucalypts, largely dependent on the volatile oil of their foliage, 

 have been discussed in many essays, one on this subject by our fellow-colonist Mr. Bosisto being 

 among the foremost. (See Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, August 1874). 



