RECOVERY OF ESSENTIAL OILS FROM THEIR WATERY SOLUTION. 347 
thirty rupees (24s. to 60s.) each. The drug, I believe, made its appearance here 
about twelve years ago,—whether for the first time or not, I do not know. The 
people who have had it to sell are half-caste Portuguese. It has no native name 
here other than Ringworm Powder , Goci Powder , or Brazil Powder , pronounced 
in native fashion. The last name is seldom used, but may afford a clue to its 
origin. 
“ G-oa powder was used by both Europeans and natives, and equally valued 
by each. The peculiar cutaneous disease for which it is a specific is so prevalent 
here and at the ports of China, that it may be held to be one of the scourges of 
the climate,—a red itchy patch, bounded by little pustules, of which the line gra¬ 
dually extends with the disease. No other remedy cures it but the strongest 
caustics.” 
Dr. Attfield stated that he had examined some of the Goa powder sent by the 
author of the paper to Mr. Hanbury, and he could confirm Mr. Kemp’s descrip ¬ 
tion of it. It appears very nearly to resemble Cudbear, which would be a tole- 
rably good representative of it, excepting that Cudbear always contained 
ammonia. 
Mr. Waugh inquired if Goa powder had been tried medicinally in this coun¬ 
try, as many substances used as native remedies in India and other foreign 
countries were found to be very worthless, and such might be the case with tins. 
He thought before they took much trouble to analyse such a substance, they 
should know whether it was likely to be of any use. 
Mr. Hanbury said it had not been tried in this country. 
V 
NOTE ON THE RECOVERY OF ESSENTIAL OILS FROM 
THEIR WATERY SOLUTION. 
BY MR. T. B. GROVES. 
I had occasion a short time since to attempt the concentration of an aromatic 
water into a spirituous essence. It occurred to me to try the process stated, in 
the “Reports of the Juries, 1851, article 1 Soaps and Perfumery,’ ” to be prac¬ 
tised by M. Piver. Accordingly I agitated the water in successive portions, with 
about one-eightli its volume of olive oil. This process, although laboriously fol¬ 
lowed, with proper care taken in recovering the oil after each shaking, failed to 
transfer any large proportion of the aromatic oil from watery to oily solution. 
A slight modification of the process which it is the object of this note to point 
out, made it succeed admirably, and at the same time saved the whole of the 
manual labour. 
The olive oil added was emulsed in the aromatic water by solution of potash: 
after standing for some time, the emulsion was destroyed by the addition of an 
acid, when the olive oil immediately rose to the surface, dragging with it almost 
the whole of the aroma. From the fatty oil the aromatic oil was easily separated, 
by agitation with rectified spirit. 
I have not ascertained by experiment either the best fatty body to use in this 
process, or the best mode of effecting or destroying the emulsion, I leave these 
points open for those who use the method practically ; but it appearing to me to 
be capable of being put to some use, at least in scientific inquiry, I have ventured 
on the above short recital of the facts. 
