66 Report of Schimmel § Co. April /October 1917. 



with ordinary oil of turpentine. A similar product is current on the market as "Wood 

 spirits of turpentine". According to Austerweil, the German term Holzterpentinol, 

 adopted by Gildemeister and Hoffmann in their text-book (2 nd German edition, vol. II, 

 p. 100) would correspond exactly to the above-mentioned English expression 1 ). 



It is very difficult to obtain a really brittle colophony from roots, as besides 

 ordinary volatile terpenes great quantities of less volatile terpene alcohols are present 

 in it, without counting the oxidized terpenes which are produced from the existing 

 normal terpenes during the process of disintegrating the wood for extraction, owing 

 to the great surface it offers to the oxygen of the air and to the resulting rise of 

 temperature. 



These high-boiling products which are alone not easily volatilized are retained 

 by the abietic acid with much tenacity and can only be driven out after prolonged 

 distillation. At 164°, under a pressure of about 90 mm., products were formed from 

 the crude resin which boiled between 190 and 230° and consisted, along with small 

 quantities of cineole, pinole, and fenchyl alcohol, mainly of terpineol which could be 

 identified by its nitrosochloride. The oil thus obtained, of the specific gravity of 

 0.934 to 0.937, consists mainly of terpineol and corresponds to the substance known 

 in America in trade as "Pine oil". 



C. G. Schwalbe 2 ) adopts in the main a very sceptical attitude towards Besemf aider's 

 above-mentioned observations. He calculates that with a yearly consumption of 

 20 million cubic meters of coniferous wood 560000 cbm. of apparatus space are neces- 

 sary; of the size, mentioned by Besemf elder, at least 8000 installation plants for the 

 quick-maturing wood process would be required which could hardly be obtained in the 

 course of the next years. He is also very sceptical whether the resin could be extracted 

 fairly completely from wood for building purposes and adds that the experience gained 

 in America with the extraction of resin from disintegrated wood is distinctly against 

 this assumption, which proves that, if the pieces of chopped wood exceed certain 

 dimensions, the extraction is no longer complete. 



Besides this, to deprive Scotch firs' of their resin is not exactly an advantage for 

 many purposes, as the good qualities of this wood for the manufacture of casks and 

 vats are mainly dependent on its richness in resin. 



He also finds that a too high estimate has been made of the figures for the yield 

 in resin as well as of the value of the extract. 



There are other facts also to which Besemfelder, in Schwalbe's opinion, has not 

 paid any attention, for instance the extraordinary bulkiness of the material, which not 

 only would cause an enormous increase in the cost of transport, but would also prevent 

 cheap extraction. In this respect experience in the U.S. is instructive as a warning 

 from exaggerated hopes, where the extraction of wood rich in resin only begins to be 

 a paying concern when it contains at least 15 to 25 percent, of it. Such rich material 

 only occurs very rarely in Germany. 



With due consideration to the whole matter Schwalbe appears to think it impro- 

 bable that Besemfelder's far-reaching wishes and plans concerning the production of 

 rosin, turpentine, and fat are likely to be realized by means of the extraction of waste 

 wood. He recommends on his part, as a much cheaper method of getting at the resin 

 content of such refuse, the exploitation of wood really rich in resin, such as the roots 



x ) In the work mentioned, however, the opinion is expressed that "wood turpentine oil" can by no means 

 in all cases be regarded as a substitute for gum spirits of turpentine owing to the presence of high-boiling 

 constituents observed also in the Austrian product. — *) Chem. Ztg. 41 (1917), 257. 



