UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



ifedMi. BULLETIN No. 989 



Contribution from the Bureau of Chemistry, W. G. 



CAMPBELL, Acting Chief, and Insecticide and Fungicide 



Board, J. K. HAYWOOD, Chairman. 



jfwy^Ln- 





Washington, D. C. 



October 7, 1921 



PINE-OIL AND PINE-DISTILLATE PRODUCT EMULSIONS: 

 METHOD OF PRODUCTION, CHEMICAL PROPERTIES, 



AND DISINFECTANT ACTION. 



By L. P. Shippen, Bacteriologist, and E. L. Griffin, Assistant Chemist, 

 Insecticide and Fungicide Laboratory, Miscellaneous Division, Bureau of 

 Chemistry. 



Purpose of investigation 



Production of pine oil 



Chemical composition of pine oils— 



Examination of known samples 



Preparation of pine-oil emulsions— 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



10 



Page. 



Disinfectant action of emulsions of 

 pine-oil and other pine-distillation 



products 11 



Conclusions 14 



Bibliography 15 



PURPOSE OF INVESTIGATION. 



The use of a pine-oil emulsion made from " steam " or " steam- 

 and-solvent" process pine oil was advocated by Stevenson (18), 1 of 

 the Hjrgienic Laboratory of the United States Public Health Service, 

 in 1915, for general disinfecting purposes. He stated that such a 

 product has a Hygienic Laboratory phenol coefficient of 4 to 6, which 

 " remains practically constant for about two months. After that a 

 noticeable deterioration occurs. Samples four months old show a 

 phenol coefficient of about 3.5." According to McCoy, Stimson, and 

 Hasseltine (13), " Hygienic Laboratory pine-oil disinfectant * * * 

 is well adapted to the disinfection of intestinal discharges, but ap- 

 pears to be deficient against pyogenic organisms," and " in the pres- 

 ent state of our knowledge the use of this preparation should be con- 

 fined to bacillary infections such as typhoid fever, cholera, and ba- 

 cillary dysentery." In October, 1917, Walters (31) pointed out the 

 fact that pine oil is very much less active than phenol against the 

 Staphylococcus aureus. 



1 The figures in parentheses refer to the bibliography at the end of this bulletin. 

 56317—21 



