THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Feb. 1, 1865. 



322 ESSENTIAL OILS FROM 



treated with hydrochloric acid, subsequently well washed, and then ex- 

 posed to sulphurous acid gas. The sponges, however, by each of these 

 processes were not thoroughly bleached, and a fourth method was tried. 

 The sponges were well washed in hot diluted soda lye, then placed in a 

 bath of weak hydrochloric acid and hyposulphite of soda, using only half 

 the quantity of hyposulphite that was used in the first experiment, and 

 a very satisfactory result was thus obtained. — Editor.] 



ESSENTIAL OILS FROM INDIGENOUS PLANTS OF VICTORIA, 

 ADAPTED FOR USE IN MEDICINE, PERFUMERY, ETC. 



Under this heading all the oils obtained from the genera Eucalyptus 

 and Melaleuca might be enumerated, inasmuch as they are all possessed 

 of medical properties. In this respect it is probable that they differ 

 from each other only in degree, and that essentially they will all be 

 found to act as diffusible stimulants, anti-spasmodics, and sudorifics, 

 greatly resembling the oil of cajuput to which they are so closely related 

 botanically, and which they approach so nearly in their physical and 

 chemical properties. 



Atherosperma moschatum (Native Sassafras). — This beautiful tree 

 requires a humid soil and climate, and is met with in the Fern Tree 

 gullies of Victoria, and Tasmania, sometimes in considerable abundance ; 

 it attains in such localities the dimensions of a middle-sized tree. The 

 bark of the A. moschatum is now recognised in this colony as a useful 

 addition to the Materia Medica, and is rising in the estimation of medical 

 men. It contains an essential oil obtainable by distillation, which acts 

 with great energy upon the vital functions ; the manufacture of which 

 in quantities is now regularly prosecuted. It is sold for about 15s. per 

 ounce. 



This oil has a thin unctuous consistence, and a pale yellow colour 

 •when first distilled, deepening to a yellowish brown by age. Its smell 

 is oppressive and disagreeable, resembling that of the sassafras oil of 

 .commerce — whence the popular name of the Victorian tree — with an 

 admixture of oil of carraways. Its taste is aromatic, and rather agree- 

 ably bitter, producing a local prickling sensation upon the tongue, which 

 lasts for some time, but does not extend to the fauces. This oil is 

 heavier than water, its specific gravity being 1-04, and its boiling point 

 is very high, namely, 446° F., the mercury continuing to rise until 

 it reaches 473°. It burns under all circumstances with a very smoky 

 flame. 



The physiological effects of this oil, in small doses, are described as 

 diaphoretic, diuretic, and sedative, and it appears to exert a specific 



