— 23 — 



We have again received reports on the excellent effect of the oil 

 from several physicians who express themselves with extraordinary 

 appreciation. The number of paroxysms of whooping-cough was reduced 

 in a few days by one half and even more. A practitioner at Friedenau 

 who is very sceptical about whooping-cough remedies, observed in the 

 case of a child which had already been ill for three weeks, that the 

 paroxysms diminished from 14 to 18, down to 8 to 10 daily, and with 

 two younger children, 2 to 4 years old, the number of attacks fell 

 within a week from 35 to 14, and 41 to 1 8 respectively. This physician 

 calls cypress oil a very prominent remedy against whooping-cough, 

 and praises its extraordinary rapid action in wholly different stages 

 of the disease. 



Owing to the brisk demand we had opportunities to submit various 

 distillates to our research - laboratory . In one of our own distillates 

 the ready solubility was very striking, whilst a fresh French distillate, 

 which otherwise was entirely unobjectionable, was characterised by a 

 low specific gravity and low ester- and alcohol- content. The properties 

 of our own distillate were: 



d 15 o 0,8916; «d — |— 1 6°27 / ; acid number 1,88; ester number 19,53; 

 ester number after acetylisation 48,48; the oil dissolved in 2,5 vol. 

 90 per cent, alcohol. The examination of the French distillate gave 

 the following values: d 15 o 0,8680; « D -f-26°3i / ; ester number 5,31; 

 ester number after acetylisation 10,25; tne on was soluble in 5,5 and 

 more vol. 90 per cent, alcohol. 



After having further examined the chemical composition of cypress 

 oil 1 ), we are now in a position to give the following information on 

 this subject. 



In the high-boiling portions a sesquiterpene, 1-cadinene, was 

 found in addition to cypress camphor. For the purpose of isolating 

 the sesquiterpene, we repeatedly fractionated in vacuo the portion of 

 the last runnings of a cypress oil of the boiling point 120 to 13 7 

 (5 mm. pressure), which had been freed from camphor by freezing 

 out and stirring up with dilute alcohol, and we purified the fraction 

 boiling at 130 to 13 5 from oxygenated admixtures by repeated, 

 prolonged heating with metallic sodium. In this manner we obtained 

 a colourless oil, whose odour reminded of cadinene, and which had 

 the following constants: boiling point 270 to 272 ; d 15 o 0,9203; 

 «d — 4° 35'; n D20° 1,50621. The dihydrochloride formed from it with 

 gaseous hydrochloric acid, with ice-cooling, melted after recrystallisation 

 from acetic ether at 117 to 11 8°, and was thereby recognised as 

 cadinene hydrochloride. Its specific rotation determined in 10,0 per cent, 

 chloroform solution was — 25 io'. 



*) Report April 1904, 38. 



