— 41 — 



Condurango bark Oil. In an exhaustive paper on the che- 

 mistry of condurango bark, K. Kubler 1 ) also describes the essential 

 oil which was obtained to the extent of 0,3 °/ , by subjecting the essential 

 extract to distillation by water vapour. The oil is yellow and possesses an 

 intense, not unpleasantly aromatic, slightly pungent odour, b. p. I40°(?), 

 di8° o>974i> t a ta -|- 6,724° By treating it with a 3 °/ soda solution 

 he succeeded in isolating about 3O°/ of a neutral, pure constituent 

 of pleasant aromatic odour (b. p. 225 ; d 0,927; [a] D -j- 19,56°) and 

 an acid constituent, which congealed in crystalline form and consisted 

 of a mixture of the higher fatty acids. 



Copaiba Balsam Oil. E. J. Parry 2 ) calls attention to the fact 

 that many so-called copaiba oils are found in commerce at the present 

 time which (although they conform to the requirements of the British 

 Pharmacopoeia), prove, when subjected to closer examination, to be merely 

 a mixture of African copaiba balsam oil and of gurjun balsam oil, in 

 suitable proportions. One such oil had the following constants: 

 di 5 o 0,902, «£> — 14° 30', soluble in 95 per cent, alcohol. It consisted 

 almost entirely of sesquiterpenes. In acetic acid solution it gave with 

 nitric acid the deep violet colour characteristic of gurjun balsam oil, 

 and when it was fractionated, dextrorotatory portions were also ob- 

 tained. It gave no crystalline compound with hydrochloric acid, but 

 only an oil of a deep violet-blue colour. 



Evans 3 ) has examined a series of copaiba balsams of various origin, 

 in the course of which he made certain observations on the oil content, 

 rotation of the oil, and the acid no. of the residual resin after distil- 

 lation by water vapour, which are set forth in the subjoined table: 



Oil content 



ajy of the oil 



Acid no. of 

 the resin 



Para (Maranham) balsam 

 Maracaibo balsam .... 



Carthagena balsam . . . . 



27 to 40 °/ 

 35 to 46 % 



56% 

 64% 



'40 

 J 3 2 



to — 17^14' 

 to — 9° 50' 



-1 6° 30' 



— 1 8° 



124 to 150,4 

 132,8 to 156 



151.8 

 143,4 



Of 19 balsams under examination, one gave a faint gurjun balsam 

 reaction, while two others probably contained small quantities of colophony. 



Utz 4 ) has published an article on the value of the various colour 

 reactions in the determination of gurjun balsam in copaiba balsam. 



*) Arch, der Pharm. 246 (1908), 658. 



2 ) Chemist and Druggist 74 (1909), 270. 



3 ) Evans* Analyt. Report 1907, 18. Quoted from Year -Book of Pharmacy 

 1908, 58. 



4 ) Chem. Rev. der Fett- und Harzind. 15 (1908), 218. Quoted from Chem. 

 Zentralbl. 1908, II. 121 2. 



