CRUDE DRUGS. 679 



Birch tar is the product of the" destructive distillation of the 

 wood and bark of the white birch (Betula alba). It is chiefly 

 made in Russia, has a strong, penetrating odor and does not 

 solidify. It is distinguished from beech wood tar and pine tar 

 in not being completely soluble in 95 per cent, acetic acid, and is 

 distinguished from juniper tar by not being entirely dissolved in 

 anilin and in being colored greenish with ferric chloride. 



An oily product is obtained in the destructive distillation of 

 the wood of the Prickly cedar (Juniperus Oxycedrus), a tree 

 indigenous to the countries bordering the Mediterranean, and is 

 official as oil of cade. It is a brown, viscid liquid with a tarry 

 odor and a pungent, bitter taste. The oil varies in composition 

 and the only constituent that has been isolated is the sesquiter- 

 pene cadinene. Of the phenols which it contains nothing is 

 known. 



An oil known as Kien oil is obtained by the destructive dis- 

 tillation of the wood of the root of Pinus sylvestris. The oil is 

 prepared in Germany, Russia, Finland and Sweden, and consists 

 of d-pinene, d-sylvestrine and in addition, in all except the 

 Swedish oil, dipentene has been determined. 



STYRAX.— STORAX.— A balsam obtained from the trunk 

 of Liquidambar orientalis (Fam. Hamamelidacese), a tree (p. 

 286) indigenous to Asia Minor and the Levant. The balsam is a 

 pathological product and is produced by bruising the bark of the 

 tree, removing it and then boiling the inner bark in sea-water, 

 the balsam which rises to the surface being skimmed off. 



Description. — A viscid, grayish, more or less opaque semi- 

 liquid mass, depositing on standing a heavier, dark brown, oleo- 

 resinous stratum ; translucent in thin layers ; odor agreeable ; taste 

 balsamic. 



Storax is insoluble in water; between 60 and 70 per cent, is 

 soluble in warm alcohol, and the residue on evaporation of 

 the alcoholic solution is almost completely soluble in ether, carbon 

 disulphide, or benzol, but insoluble in benzin ; the portion undis- 

 solved after thorough extraction with boiling alcohol should not 

 be more than 4 per cent. When boiled with a solution of potas- 

 sium dichromate and sulphuric acid it evolves an odor resembling 

 that of bitter almonds (due to the presence of cinnamic acid) ; 



