ACTION OF SALTS ON VOLATILE OILS. 151 



fell to pieces very slowly ; and the portion of oil that was in 

 contact with it acquired a deep amber colour. In a few- 

 days the whole of the oil was turbid, and exhibited inte- 

 riorly a flocculent precipitate. As soon as the oil appeared 

 to be grown clear, I poured it out on a filter, on which a 

 light orange coloured matter remained, that I shall notice 

 presently. The oil passed through of a deep amber colour; 

 it- had the consistency of an expressed oil ; and its smell 

 was less sweet. Being kept a long while in a phial, it de- 

 posited a whitish sediment. Poured into distilled water, and 

 gently shaken, it separated into flakes, which rose to the 

 surface of the water, and let full a silky precipitate, of a 

 very white and silvery appearance. This was insoluble both 

 in water and in alcohol, was not volatilized at a red heat, 

 and i-esembled the silvei'y flowers of antimony. The oil dis-? 

 solved easily in alcohol, separated from it on the addition of 

 water, and let fall on standing a precipitate similar to that 

 abovementioned. The orange coloured matter left on the 

 filter, having been washed repeatedly with spirit of vyine, 

 and dried on paper, exhibited a crystalline appearance in 

 certain parts. Put on a slip of iron, and heated to redness, 

 it became covered with shining needles, as muriate of anti-^ 

 mony does. 



Exp. 16. Oil of rosemary added to a solution of nitrate j^jitrate of sil- 

 of silver exhibited after some time a whitish pellicle, which verand oil of 

 had a metallic aspect, and formed a separation between the ^ ^' 

 SjOlution and the oil. The oil did not appear to be altered, 

 and the solution of nitrate of silver still formed muriate of 

 silver on the addition of muriatic acid. The pellicle was a 

 portion of the silver reduced to the metallic state. 



Exp. 17. The volatile oils in the experiments lately men- Volatile oils 

 tioned having undergone a great deal of alteration, I thought with sugar. 

 it right, to continue the examination of the same oils with a 

 less active substance, as sugar, with which they are sup- 

 posed to be capable of forming a perfect combination, com- 

 pletely soluble in water, without losing any thing of their 

 properties. Such a compound is called an oleosaccharum^ 

 and is used to impart to different preparations, solid or li- 

 quid, the smell of a fruit, flower, o-r some other part of a 



veo-etable. 



