78 



brownish- green fluorescence. Water, glycerin, 36 per cent, acetic acid, 

 and 85 per cent, phosphoric acid failed to dissolve the original material. 



Aqueous solutions of sodium and potassium hydrates and ammonia 

 water produced white insoluble mixtures. Potassium hydrate in alcohol 

 dissolved it with the exception of a few white flakes Magnesium oxide 

 and water formed a solid mass, as did also potassium hydrate when it 

 was fused and the material added to it ; the resulting mass showed 

 no tendency to liquefy by further heating, nor would it dissolve in 

 water. 



The original material appeared to be separated from this mass by 

 treating with diluted acid in excess, shaking with ether; separating and 

 evaporating the e'hereal layer. 



About 60 grammes of the original material were mixed with water 

 in a flask, the latter attached to a condenser and heat applied ; the water 

 distilled over, leaving the material in the flask apparently unchanged. 

 No oily layer separated from the distillate, thereby indicating the ab- 

 sence of volatile oil, and determining at once the imp jrtant distinction 

 of this substance from copabia balsam. The distillate was practically 

 clear and colourless, neutral to litmus paper and gave no colour with fer- 

 ric chloride. An aromatic odour was exhaled during the distillation, 

 and was to a less degree noticeable in the distillate The water remain- 

 ing in the flask with the material had the same properties as the dis- 

 tillate, and had dissolved nothing. Heat was then further applied to the 

 flask and its contents until all the water was removed, the temperature 

 was then increased and the material, by a decomposition similar to that 

 known as " cracking" in the distillation of petroleum, distilled until 

 about 90 per cent, had passed into the receiver. The residue then be- 

 gan to " coke" and emit smoky vapors The black tarry residue solid- 

 fied on cooling. The last portion of the distillate had a reddish 

 colour and a strong fluorescence similar to that seen in paraffin oils ; 

 the odour of this portion was distinctly that of petroleum. The first 

 portions of the distillate were yellow and and had an aromatic odour ; 

 these were mixed and redistilled. Distillation began at about 150° C. 

 about three-fourths of the mixture passed over between that tempera- 

 ture and 36U" C. When this point was reached the residue in the flask 

 had a reddish colour, a petroleum-like odour and fluorescence like the 

 previously described fraction. Both processes were evidently accom- 

 panied by destructive distillation. 



The specific gravity of the original material was slightly higher than 

 water, although it floated on the latter liquid, owing, no doubt, to 

 occluded air. No nitrogen was found to be present. The substance 

 is either a resinous body very poor in oxygen or else a hydrocarbon, or 

 a mixture of several of them. Its physical properties no doubt sug- 

 gested a resemblance to copaiba, and therefore the specific name of 

 the tree but in composition and other chemical properties it bears no re- 

 lation to either copaiba balsam or gurjun balsam. Its behaviour under 

 high temperature indicated some relationship to the fixed oils (see 

 Sadtler on the Destructive Distillation of Linseed Oil, Am. Jour. Pharm. 

 1896 page 4^5). It is probably medicinally inert. 



Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, April, 1897. 



