Selections. 



[no. 4, NEW SERIES, 



red is not therefore apparent by this means, but it becomes manifest when 

 after agitation, a thin layer of liquid covers the upper sides of the bottle. 

 Then, in whatever way \vc look at this thin layer, it appears of a beautiful 

 green hue. 



This same green colour appears again and remains, when, after having 

 dissolved the Wood Oil in alcohol, the solution is left to spontaneous evapo- 

 ration : one may then sec towards the upper part of the capsule, between 

 the portions of green resin, white starry tufts which arc due to a peculiar 

 principle, the future examination of which I leave to those who have a 

 larger quantity of the liquid at their disposal. As to the resin, it has 

 acquired a permanent green hue, which is also perceptible in the dry resin 

 which remains after the "Wood Oil has been boiled for a considerable time 

 with water. This green colour, which is that also of the beautiful Piney 

 Resin {Vateria Indica L.) that was shown at the Exhibition, establishes a 

 point of relation between two products originating in trees belonging to 

 the same family, that of the Dipterocarpecr. But there the resemblance 

 stops, for the resin of Vateria Indica is insoluble in alcohol, and very im- 

 perfectly so in ether, whilst the green resin of Wood Oil is easily soluble 

 in either of these menstrua. Finally, the Wood Oil of the Exhibition behaves 

 as Copaiba, when treated with ammonia or calcined magnesia. With one 

 sixteenth of calcined magnesia it very speedily solidifies, and a mixture of 

 it with ammonia becomes liquid, and almost transparent, after an instant 

 of opacity. 



I am far from concluding with Mr. Lowe, that the two oleo-resinous 

 bodies [Copaiba and Wood Oil] are chemically identical ; but as regards 

 their employment in medicine, I think, as in the case of bodies of analogous 

 composition, such as turpentines and balsams, liquid or solid, all their 

 vegetable components may be of use as a remedy for a catarrhal condition 

 of the mucous membranes. I may remark, in conclusion, that Mr. Han- 

 bury 's Wood Oil, and that from the Exhibition, have probably not been 

 extracted by a similar process. It seems to me that the former has been 

 obtained by the action of fire in the manner described by Roxburgh ; the 

 latter has doubtless been obtained without the intervention of this agent, 

 for I do not find in it the indication which characterizes oils that are the 

 result of the action of fire upon resins."— Pharmaceutical Journal, XV. 332 



The foregoing extracts show how valuable an article of com- 

 merce these oils which are largely produced both in India and 

 Pegu are likely to become \vhen they shall have obtained the amount 

 of attention they deserve. 



