— 62 — 



already on a previous occasion and in another place 1 ) expressed the 

 supposition that the French oil is only met with in commerce heavily 

 adulterated with oil of turpentine. According toUmney and Bennett 2 ) 

 this supposition does not apply to all French oils, even if they possess 

 properties differing from those of ordinary savin oil. The differences 

 should rather be attributed to this, that we have here to deal with 

 distillates of two different species of Juniperus. This at least the 

 authors have observed in an oil obtained from a very reliable source, 

 which corresponds well with the French commercial products, whilst 

 differing markedly from ordinary savin oil. A further examination of 

 the plant material showed that the oil did not originate at all from 

 the leaves of Juniperus sabina L , but from the very similar Juniperus 

 phoenicea L. indigenous to the Mediterranean countries. The proper- 

 ties of this oil were as follows: diso 0,892, a D-j~4°3°'' ester content 

 9,3 °/ , content of total sabinol i7,i°/ , soluble in 5 vol. 90 per cent, 

 alcohol. The oil is therefore lighter than ordinary savin oil, further, 

 it has but a feeble rotation, and a decidedly lower alcohol content. 

 Contrary to the German and British 3 ) distillates it is rich in low- 

 boiling constituents, 64°/ passing over up to 165 , whilst the ordinary 

 oils do not contain such low-boiling portions at all Of constituents 

 may be mentioned pinene, of which the oil contains a great deal, and 

 also cadinene, and an aldehyde which, however, occurs in the oil in 

 such small quantity that its identification was not possible. 



As, according to Umney and Bennett, it is very probable that 

 savin oil owes its physiological action in the first place to sabinol, 

 it follows that the oil of Juniperus phoenicea L. which is less rich in 

 sabinol, must be less active than the real oil of savin, and conse- 

 quently cannot be a substitute of equal value for the latter. 



For the rest Umney and Bennett do not supply any proof of 

 the identity of the alcohol contained in the oil of Juniperus phoenicea L. 

 with sabinol, which was all the more necessary as the botanical re- 

 lationship between the mother plants does not by any means prove 

 that the individual constituents must be identical. 



Solidago Oils. From America we received two solidago oils. 

 The one, designated merely as "oil of golden rod" had a pale yellow 

 colour and a pleasant refreshing aroma. Its specific gravity was 



*) Gildemeister and Hoffmann: "The Volatile Oils", pp. 274, 275. 



2 ) Pharmac. Journal 75 (1905), 827. 



3 ) For purposes of comparison Umney and Bennett also give the properties 

 of a German and a British oil of savin. In this connection the exceptionally high 

 rotation of the British oil which is said to be an authentic distillate, is worthy of 

 note. "Whilst the rotation usually fluctuates between -|- 42 and -f- 6o°, the oil in 

 question rotates -|- 68°. It further contains fewer high-boiling constituents than the 

 German oil; the sabinol-content is normal. 



