Essential Oil of Sage. 347 



dissolves sago-camphor with the evolution of small quantities 

 of lower oxides of nitroo-en (see paragraph 20). Sulphuric 

 acid dissolves it with difficulty, and hydrochloric acid only 

 after continued boiling. 



18. A quantity of sage-camphor was dissolved in chloro- 

 form ; an equal quantity of bromine was gradually added, the 

 vessel being kept well cooled. Reddish-coloured crystals 

 were almost immediately deposited. The whole was allowed 

 to stand over sulphuric acid in vacuo for 12 hours : when the 

 vessel was brought into the ordinary atmosphere the crystals 

 very quickly melted, and hydrobromic acid was evolved in 

 considerable quantity. On standing for several days over 

 sulphuric acid in vacuo, crystals were again formed. On dis- 

 tilling the red liquid very large quantities of hydrobromic acid 

 were evolved, a camphor-like solid was deposited, and a con- 

 siderable portion of the liquid was resinized. The solid 

 camphor-like substance, after several sublimations, melted at 

 160° to 163°. A similar substance, having the same melting- 

 point, was prepared by treating sage-camphor directly Avith 

 bromine, washing with caustic soda, and subliming. The 

 melting-point of the crystals increased after each sublimation, 

 until the maximum, 160° to 163°, was attained. During the 

 earlier sublimations hydrobromic acid was evolved. 



19. When sage-camphor was distilled in contact with 

 phosphorus pentasulphide, the greater part of the material 

 underwent resination, but a small quantity of liquid was 

 obtained, which, after washing with soda, drying, and frac- 

 tionating, gave the reactions of cymene ; on oxidation with 

 chromic liquor terephthalic acid was produced. 



20. A few grams of sage-camphor was dissolved in about 

 10 parts of concentrated nitric acid, the liquid was boiled for 

 30 hours or so, the acid was distilled off; the residual semi- 

 resinous matter was dissolved in hot water ; the solution was 

 boiled down and set aside. A small quantity of a colourless, 

 indistinctly crystalline body was obtained. This substance 

 melted at 172° to 176°. The quantity at our disposal was too 

 small, and not sufficiently pure, to allow of accurate analyses 

 being made ; the numbers which we did obtain agreed as 

 closely as could be expected with those required by the formula 

 for camphoric acid — Cio ^u O4. 



21. Sage-camphor is almost certainly an isomer of common 

 camphor ; its melting-point, boiling-point, and other physical 

 properties, however, as also the difference of its behaviour 

 towards bromine, prevent us from believing that it is iden- 

 tical with common camphor. 



22. Our investigations are not sufficiently complete to 



