Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1889. 
Oil  of  Camphor. 
283 
We  do  not  consider  that  the  above  lighter  fractions  have  been  so 
satisfactorily  identified,  as  to  warrant  naming  them.  The  others  have 
already  been  named  by  previous  investigators,  and  were  fully  identi- 
fied by  us.  It  is  possible  that  (6)  consists  of  dipentene,  since  Wallach 
discovered  considerable  quantities  of  it  in  the  camphor  oil.  (5)  may 
be  cineol,  but  we  have  been  unable  to  get  all  the  reactions  necessary 
for  its  identification.  The  odor,  however,  is  characteristic  and  strongly 
points  to  the  possibility  of  cineol  being  present,  but  the  polarization 
is  decidedly  different  from  that  obtained  from  wormseed  oil,  which  is 
inactive.  Recently  there  has  appeared  a  statement  of  the  composition 
of  camphor  oil  by  Schimmel  &  Co.1 
Our  work,  however,  was  nearly  completed,  as  far  as  now  pub- 
lished, when  the  above  pamphlet  was  issued.  The  results  in  part 
agree,  and  we  can  only  say  that  probably  they  are  as  similar  as  might 
be  expected  from  different  investigators  on  different  samples  of  such  a 
varied  substance  as  this  oil  appears  to  be. 
Another  important  paper  on  the  composition  of  camphor  oil  was 
published  in  1885,  by  Yoshida,2  who  found  it  to  consist  of  terebin- 
thene,  citrene,  camphor  and  camphorogenol.  Had  we  used  sample  of 
oil  Xo.  VI.  for  the  basis  of  our  work  the  results  would  probably 
have  approached  his.  He  in  turn  failed  to  find  in  his  sample  the 
compound  noted  by  Oishi,3  who,  in  addition  to  camphor,  found  a  hy- 
drocarbon of  the  composition  C12H20.  TTe  cannot  but  conclude  that 
these  two  gentlemen  experimented  on  the  true  oil,  since  they  carried 
on  their  investigations  near  its  source.  Since  it  has  become  known 
that  the  high  boiling  fractions  of  the  oil  are  so  valuable,  it  will  be  safe 
to  conclude  that  the  colorless  rectified  oils  of  low  specific  gravity  do 
not  contain  all  the  compounds  which  naturally  belong  in  this  complex 
substance. 
Philadelphia,  May  21,  1889. 
Colchicine  is  recommended  by  Dr.  Darier  in  certain  eye  affections,  and 
is  administered  in  pill  form,  each  pill  containing  ^  grain  of  the  drug  of  which 
from  1  to  2  or  4,  or  even  6  pills,  can  be  taken  daily.  Care  must  be  taken 
to  instruct  patients  to  reduce  the  dose  as  soon  as  intestinal  derangements 
manifest  themselves.  Some  patients  have  taken  as  many  as  200  pills,  with- 
out complaining  of  unfavorable  symptoms. — Med.  News,  March  3,  1889. 
A  Bericht  von  Schimmel  &  Co.,  Leipzig,  April,  1889.  See  this  Journal,  page  313. 
3  Jour.  Chem.  Soc,  47,  779. 
3  Jour.  Soc.  Chem.  Industry,  2,  353. 
