Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1889. 
Expressed  Oil  of  Almonds. 
231 
using,  where  the  sample  permitted,  a  50-gm.  bottle  ;  where  the  sample 
was  small  a  10  gin.  bottle  was  used. 
The  following  table  exhibits  the  gravities  and  physical  characters  of 
the  samples : 
Sp.Gr. 
1 ... 
9172... 
2... 
.9195... 
3  ... 
.91855. 
4.... 
.yiyi.. 
5.... 
.92195. 
6.... 
.9165... 
7.... 
.9207... 
8.... 
.9198... 
9  , 
10.... 
.9220... 
11.... 
9186... 
12.... 
.9181... 
13  ., 
,9167... 
14.... 
9169  .. 
Color. 
Pale  yellow,  nearly  colorless 
Bright  yellow  
Very  light  yellow  
Light  yellow  
Light  yellow  
Pal*  yellow  
Light  yellow  
Bright  yellow  
Pale  yellow  
Light  yellow  
Pale  yellow,  nearly  colorless 
Light  yellow  
Yellow  
Yellow  
Odor  and  Taste. 
Bland,  mild  nutty. 
Very  marked  nutty  flavor. 
Bland,  mild  nutty. 
Bland,  mild  nutty. 
Decidedly  nutty. 
Bland,  mild  nutty. 
Mild  nutty. 
Decidedly  nutty. 
Bland,  faint  nutty. 
Faint  nutty,  bland. 
Bland,  hardly  nutty. 
Slight  nutty,  evidently  expressed  from 
moist  almonds,  as  the  odor  of  vol. 
oil  is  perceptible. 
Extracted  from  bitter  almonds  by 
petroleum  ether,  hardly  nutty. 
Extracted  from  sweet  almonds  by 
petroleum  ether,  hardly  nutty. 
As  from  the  tests,  numbers  1,  3  and  12  of  the  commercial  samples 
are  believed  to  be  pure,  and  with  numbers  13  and  14  prepared  by 
myself,  showing  a  range  of  gravity  from  .9167  to. 9185,  it  is  believed 
that  the  officinal  limit  might  be  still  further  narrowed  by  fixing  the 
gravity  at  .916  to  .919  and  usually  about  '918. 
Solubility. — Considerable  discrepancy  exists  in  the  various  state- 
ments regarding  the  solubility.  The  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  describes 
almond  oil  as  slightly  soluble  in  alcohol.  Gmelin's  Chemistry  (vol. 
xvii,  93)  states  "  almond  oil  dissolves  in  about  25  parts  of  cold  and  6 
parts  of  hot  alcohol,  (Pfaff) ;  according  to  Brande  it  dissolves  very 
slightly  in  alcohol  of  0.82  sp.  gr.  Storer's  Dictionary  of  Solubilities 
says,  "  soluble  in  25  parts  of  cold  and  6  parts  of  boiling  alcohol. 
1000  drops  of  alcohol  of  .823  dissolve  3  drops  of  it  at  12.5°  (Schu- 
barth's  Tech.  Chem.)."  Allen  (Commercial  Organic  Analysis,  vol.  II) 
says  "soluble  in  6  parts  of  boiling  and  24  parts  of  cold  alcohol." 
Brannt  (  Animal  and  Vegetable  Fats  &  Oils)  states  "  soluble  in  60 
parts  of  cold  and  15  parts  of  boiling  alcohol."  The  earlier  editions 
of  the  National  Dispensatory  stated  "soluble  in  about  30  parts  of 
absolute  alcohol,"  which  statement,  although  probably  correct,  has 
been  omitted  in  the  recent  editions.    My  own  experiments  lead  to  the 
