july — sept. 1857.] Wood Oil. 



287 



from an extensive set of experiments instituted by Dr. O'Shauglmessy, 

 confirmed by trials made by other practitioners in India, that Wood Oil 

 is nearly equally efficient with Copaiba, in the diseases in which that drug 

 is indicated.* It may be administered as an emulsion, "or in pills made up 

 with magnesia. Dr. O'Shauglmessy has used the essential oil in doses of 

 from 10 to 30 drops. 



From the close similarity of Wood Oil to Copaiba, a mixture of the two 

 may be anticipated ; from pure Copaiba, such a mixture will probably be 

 detected by a difference in its optical properties. 1 ' — Pharmaceutical Jour- 

 nal, XV. 321. 



Still later " a note" appeared in the same serial translated from 

 a paper by Mr. Guibotjet, in the French Journal cle Pharmacie 

 et de Chimie for September 1856, which we here reproduce ; 



"This curious Indian production, named by the English Wood Oil or 

 Gurjun Balsam, has already formed the subject of two notices f published in 

 the Pharmaceutical Journal and Transactions, by Messrs. Charles Lowe 

 and Daniel H anbury. 



Mr. Lowe, who knew merely that this resinous liquid is extracted in • 

 India from incisions made in a tree, considered it Balsam of Copaiba 

 rendered turbid by a greenish resin suspended in it. [He found that] the 

 filtered balsam formed a brown transparent liquid, which yielded by dis- 

 tillation as follows : 



Essential Oil 65 



[Hard] Resin 34 



Acetic Acid and Water 1 



100 



According to Mr., Lowe, the volatile oil possesses all the characters of 

 that of copaiba ; and the " hard resin," which he regards as pure Copaivic 

 Acid, exempt from the " soft resin" which, according to him, exists in the 

 greater part of the copaiba of commerce, appears to him indicative of 

 superiority as a medicine. I must acknowledge that I but ill comprehend 

 this conclusion, and that I am the less convinced of the identity of the 

 hard resin with copaivic acid, since Mr. Lowe has recognized in the new 

 resinous balsam the singular property of becoming solid when exposed in 

 a closed vessel, to a temperature of 230° F. Copaiba presents no similar 

 phenomenon* 



I find stated moreover this difference, viz., that the new balsam distilled 



* Bengal Dispensatory (1842) pp. 222—224. 

 t The two selections from the Pharmaceutical Journal given above.— Ed. 



