COMMERCIAL NOTES AND SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION. 95 
Turpentine Oil. The Government of India is at present engaged, at its turpentine- 
distilling plant at Naini Tal, in the Himalayas, on experiments in the more rational 
preparation of the oil’). It is true that the turpentine oil which has thus far been 
manufactured in the United Provinces is colourless, but it contains sparingly-volatile 
bodies, as a result of which it dries but slowly, and leaves a sticky residue. It is 
expected that, hand in hand with an improvememt in the quality of the product, there 
will be a considerable increase in the output within the next few years. The production 
of the last three years has been as follows: — 
Crude Turpentine Turpentine oil Resin *) 
Year Number of Trees inet @itions ibs: 
PeMenee ea LS : 194 000 1 150 000 25 200 780 000 
Memmeenetis) ork. 213 000 1 400 000 30 000 990 000 
1912/13 400 000 2 470 000 54 000 1 650 000 
Estimated: pact for ttie | 
financial year 1916/17. . 900 000 5 760 000 126 000 3 870 000 
The total output of resin in British India in the year 1912 was 1890000 Ibs.; that 
for 1913 is estimated at 3290000 Ibs., of which over 2000000 Ibs. has already been 
forwarded to Calcutta and Bombay. A new distillery is about to be put into com- 
mission at Tanakpur and the Government experimental plant at Lahore (Punjab) is to 
be got ready for regular work as soon as possible. 
As long ago as our Report of April 1911, p. 116, we called attention to the fact 
that, owing to its sylvestrene-content, Indian turpentine oil from Pinus longifolia lacked 
the valuable drying properties of the French and American turpentine oils, which 
consist almost entirely of pinene. 
A few years ago, Engler and his collaborators showed that under the influence of 
aluminium chloride, amylene is polymerised into polyolefinenes, which afterwards are 
split up into paraffins containing larger proportions of hydrogen, into naphthenes (cyclo- 
hexanes) of the same percentual constitution and into lubricating oils containing less 
hydrogen. W. Steinkopf and M. Freund®) have ascertained that French turpentine oil 
and pure /-pinene behave similarly. When turpentine oil without any other diluent is 
diluted with freshly-prepared aluminium chloride, it is necessary to proceed with extreme 
care, or the reaction, with spontaneous heating, will proceed so violently that resinous 
masses will be hurled from the flask to the accompaniment of a pronounced evolution 
of smoke. When the aluminium chloride is introduced .gradually, with cooling and 
turbinating, a liberal yield is obtained of a viscous mass consisting of the polymerisation- 
products of pinene. In order to decompose these products they were heated in a 
reflux condenser with aluminium chloride. This manipulation gave rise to gases, to 
hydrocarbons with low b.p. and to fractions with higher b.p. The gases consisted 
chiefly of saturated hydrocarbons of the paraffin series, with which were admixed 
cyclic hydrocarbons and a minute proportion of unsaturated hydrocarbons. The high- 
boiling fractions contained in addition to a little benzene chiefly naphthenes and 
polynaphthenes, together with other saturated hydrocarbons. The constitution of the 
fractions with the highest b. f was similar to that of the various artificial and natural 
lubricatirig oils. 
*) Zeitschr. f. angew. Chem..27 (1914), Ill. 91. — 7%) Colophony? — %) Berl. Berichte 47 (1914), 411. 
