— 33 — 



refer hereby. In order to determine the quantity of borneol which 

 may be present he proposes to acetylate the sample in the familiar 

 manner and then to saponify it. To determine the absence of chlorine 

 from synthetic camphor, which is a matter of special importance where 

 the article is intended for use in celluloid manufacture, Lohmann 

 applied calcination with chlorine -free caustic lime. In the discussion 

 ensuing, on the other hand, Stephan recommended Beilstein's copper 

 oxide test, which for the particular purpose under review he regarded 

 as more exact than the well-known combustion method, as it is said 

 to be possible, by it, to detect so small a proportion as 0,02 °/ 

 of chlorine. 



With reference to the above statements we wish to observe that 

 for the purpose for which it was devised, that is to say, for the 

 detection of chlorine in bitter almond oil, the combustion test is 

 much more suitable and gives much more trustworthy results, than 

 does the copper oxide test. 



According to E. Deussen 1 ), the test of official spirit of camphor 

 for its d- camphor content, as laid down in the German Pharma- 

 copoeia, ed. IV., is insufficient, because it is limited to the as- 

 certainment of the specific gravity and a rough estimation of the 

 camphor-content. The latter determination is made by diluting 10 g. 

 of the spirit of camphor with 4,6 to 5,3 cc. water, after which it 

 is said that the camphor will separate out. If less than the re- 

 quired proportion (io°/ ) is present, and assuming the spirit to be 

 of the proper strength, no separation will take place until more than 

 5,3 cc. 'of water has been added. On the other hand, a preparation 

 containing but little camphor in too highly diluted alcohol will not 

 require more than 5,3 cc. water before turning cloudy, and may 

 thus be able to pass as a preparation of the proper strength. More- 

 over, with the Pharmacopoeia tests it is not possible to detect the 

 presence of artificial, inactive camphor; on the contrary, this can 

 only be discovered by determining the optical rotation of the sub- 

 stance. Deussen has found an average rotation, at 17 in a 10 cm.- 

 tube, of ~[~3°2 7'. This constant is fairly certain, as the sp. rot. of 

 pure Japanese camphor only varies very slightly from Mb -j- 44,22° 

 (in 20 per cent, alcoholic solution). The camphor-content must be 

 determined t quantitatively by treating 5 g. of spirit of camphor with 

 20 g. solution of sulphate of ammonia and subsequently adding 30 g. 

 of water or ice; the loss caused in the course of this manipulation 

 by filtering and drying on a porous tile ranging from 4 to 6°/ . 

 The camphor which has separated out m^y then be treated further 

 for camphoric acid, in order to identify its origin. For this purpose 



*) Arch, der Pharm. 247 (1909), 307. 



