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CHEMICAL PREPARATIONS AND DRUGS. 57 
A treatise by Deussen on copaiba balsams and their adulteration has been dealt 
with on page 67 of this Report. 
~Copaiba balsams of different origin have been described on pages 14 and 15 of 
this Report. 
Coumarin. In order to study the influence of light on coumarin in the presence 
of oxygen, G. Ciamician and P. Silber*) exposed coumarin to the light from April to 
November in a spacious vessel and in the presence of water. A sort of brown 
emulsion had formed during the exposure. The following products of reaction were . 
found: salicylaldehyde, dihydrodicoumarin (m. p. 258°), salicylic acid and a substance 
which crystallized in long needles and melted at 163°. Dihydrodicoumarin had formed 
in predominating quantity. In previous experiments of exposing coumarin to the light, 
carried out in the absence of oxygen, far less dihydrodicoumarin had formed. 
Eucalyptol. Concerning a method of titration for determining eucalyptol see page 23. 
Eugenol. We have mentioned on page 102 of this Report that the test of eugenol 
for carbolic acid, prescribed by the Austrian Pharmacopoeia, often leads to erroneous 
conclusions. 
Hardwickia Balsam. In summer 1914, we received from the Imperial Institute in 
London a balsam of Hardwickia pinnata, Roxb. (N. O. Leguminosae). We have frequently 
dealt with similar balsams in our Reports’). The product in question was, like the 
former, a thick liquid of reddish brown colour, in a very thin layer greenish. The smell 
was feeble and not very agreeable. It showed the following values: dis0 1,0222; 
sap. v. 104,0; ester v. 32,6. On distilling the balsam with steam, about 35 p:c. of a 
colourless oil could be obtained which had a weak odour and showed the following 
constants: diso 0,9080; #) —6°7’; nNpx»0 1,50026; sap. v. 0,3; ester v..3,9; soluble in 
5,5 vols. and more 95 p.c. alcohol with a minimal opalescence. 
The rosin, left as a residue after distillation, was brittle and of the colour of the 
balsam itself; the acid v. was 160,06. 
Peru Balsam. L. Rosenthaler*) tried to distinguish genuine Peru balsam from 
the artificial product by determining the optical rotation of its cinnamein. He ascer- 
tained 1) the rotation of the ethereal solution, by mixing 10 g. of Peru balsam with 
10 g. of sodium hydroxide solution and 10 g. of water and shaking the mixture after- 
wards with 50 g. of ether; 2) the specific rotation of the cinnamein in alcoholic 
solution, by distilling off the ether from the solution before mentioned, dissolving the 
weighed residue in about 4 times its quantity of alcohol and determining the density 
and rotation of this solution. The sap. v., percentage of cinnamein, as well as the 
sap. v. of this cinnamein, were likewise established for the balsams tested as described: 
Generally speaking, a rotation to the right ([¢], + 0,10 to + 1,13°)*) was observed 
in the etheral and alcoholic solutions of most of the balsams. It is difficult to judge 
1) Berl. Berichte 47 (1914), €42; Rend. della R. Accad. dei Lincei 28 (1914), Ser. Va, 1. sem. fasc. 3. 
Comp. Report April 1904, 127. — %) Reports April 1905, 85; April 1907, 109; April 1908, 151; comp. Gilde- 
meister and Hoffmann, Die dtherischen Ole, 24 ed., vol. Il, p. 623. — 3) Schweiz. Apotheker Ztg. 52 (1914), 
273. — +4) Comp. the indications on oil of Peru balsam in Gildemeister and Hoffmann, Die dtherischen Ole, 
2-4 ed., vol. Il, p. 623. 
