— IOI — 



French turpentine oils examined by him all rotate to the right, whilst 

 this oil is usually laevorotatory 1 ). The figures for Finnish pine tar oil 

 agree with those of other authors (Flawitzky, for Polish pine tar 

 oil, «d~(-I5 24 / to -j-24°; Atterberg, for Swedish pine tar oil 

 «p-{- I4°48 / ). The boiling point of pine tar oils (160 to 170 ) lies 

 somewhat higher than that of good turpentine oils. A few of the 

 oils examined contained methyl alcohol, acetone, and acids, and one 

 oil was adulterated with 30 to 40 °/ petroleum. 



Verbena Oil. Under the name "Thyme lemon oil" we recently 

 received an oil from Spain, on the botanical origin of which we were 

 unable to obtain any information, but of which we wish to mention 

 the properties here, as meanwhile a communication from Parry and 

 Bennett dealing with a similar oil has also made its appearance. 



The oil examined by us had an orange-yellow colour, and an 

 odour like lemon oil with a suspicion of thyme oil; d^o 0,9085; 

 «d-}~9 45 / ; soluble in 1 and more vol. 80 per cent alcohol, but of 

 70 per cent, alcohol not even 15 vol. sufficed for a complete solution. 

 Unfortunately we had only a few grams of this oil at our disposal, 

 so that we had to content ourselves with the determination of the 

 above constants. 



A somewhat more detailed examination now is found in the above- 

 mentioned work of Parry and Bennett 2 ). The thyme lemon oil here 

 described agrees fairly well with ours: d^o 0,901, a D~[-i8 30 / ? not 

 soluble in 70 per cent, alcohol, soluble in 2 vol. 80 per cent, alcohol. 

 The oil contained about 20 °/ aldehydes, which consisted chiefly of 

 citral. 5 per cent, potash liquor absorbed about 1 o °/ of the oil, from 

 which a corresponding phenol- content was assumed. A closer examination, 

 however, showed that the portion combined with the liquor was more 

 of a resiniferous character, and gave only a feeble reaction with ferric 

 chloride. From the behaviour of the oil in boiling (b. p. 175 , the 

 bulk passes over below 230 ) Parry and Bennett conclude that 

 of terpenes chiefly limonene is present, and that pinene is probably 

 not contained at all in the oil. The portions boiling above 230 

 contain clearly a sesquiterpene, as may be assumed from the high 

 index of refraction (1,50). 



Parry and Bennett also say that the oil, according to the 

 distillers, originates from Lippia citriodora Kth. (Verbena triphylla L.), 

 and would therefore be a genuine verbena oil. This does not quite 

 agree with previous observations according to which verbena oil is 

 laevorotatory, more difficulty soluble, and also contains more citral; 



*) We ourselves have never yet had a dextrorotatory French oil of turpentine 

 in hand. 



J ) Chemist and Druggist 69 (1906), 481. 



