— 94 — 



tent, we find that the drug which in France is met with in commerce 

 as savin, is a mixture of the tops of the branches of Juniperus Sabina, 

 J. phoenicea, and J. thurifera var. gallica, of which by far the largest 

 part consists of J. phoenicea. Owing to its inactivity, this species partic- 

 ularly must be regarded as a direct adulterant of the official drug, 

 whilst Juniperus thurifera var. gallica is said to be a substitute of 

 equal value. In how far these statements apply, must be proved 

 by further studies. 



Umney and Bennett 1 ) reported some time ago on the oil of 

 Juniperus phoenicea L., which in the South of France frequently occupies 

 the place of the genuine savin oil derived from J. Sabina L. A further 

 contribution to the knowledge of this oil is supplied by J. Rodie 2 ). 

 The material from which the oil examined by Rodie had been pre- 

 pared, consisted chiefly of branches partly in flower, without berries, and 

 was therefore in the first stage of development. As a consequence, 

 the oil, obtained in a yield of 0,45 to 0,50 °/ , was particularly rich 

 in terpenes and had a very low specific gravity. The constants of 

 five different distillates were: diso 0,867 to 0,868; «d — }— 2°54 / to 

 -j-4°io / ; soluble in 4 to 5 vol. 90 per cent alcohol. The oil had 

 a bright greenish-yellow colour and a peculiar odour, which, however, 

 was more like that of oil of juniper berries than that of genuine savin. 



The further examination showed that more than 9O°/ of the oil 

 was represented by terpenes, the bulk of which consisted of pinene, 

 as already detected by Umney and Bennett. The pinene fraction 

 (87,5% of the original oil; «p -|~4°3i / ) passed over between 154 

 and 1 5 6°; the other terpenes between 156 and 17 6°; of the latter, 

 those detected with certainty were 1-camphene and phellandrene, the 

 nitrate of which showed the m. p. 101 . But the quantities of these 

 terpenes present in the oil are very small; Rodie estimates that of 

 camphene at scarcely 0,1 °/ . 



Rodie is still engaged on the examination of the further con- 

 stituents of the oil boiling above 180 . 



We may add to the foregoing that we have observed entirely 

 similar properties in two distillates of Juniperus phoenicea L. sent to 

 us from Cannes. The oils, obtained by water distillation, behaved 

 as follows: — 



1. d^o 0,8634; « D -|_ 2 °3o'; ester no. o; ester no. after acetyl - 

 ation 4,7; soluble in 6 to 6,5 and more vol. 90 per cent, alcohol. 



2. d^o 0,8723; a r>-f-2°; ester no. 2,1; ester no. after acetylation 

 11,0; soluble in 5 to 6 and more vol. 90 per cent, alcohol, with 

 minute opalescence. 



*) Pharmaceutical Journal 75 (1905), 827; Report April 1906, 62. 

 2 ) Bull. Soc. Chim. III. 35 (1906), 922. 



