Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
Nov.,  1881 
•|  Gleanings  in  Materia  lledica,  573 
Volatile  Oil  of  Linaloes  or  Licari  Kanali,  the  white  cedar  of 
Cayenne,  is  a  pale-colored  limpid  liquid,  of  an  agreeable  odor  resemb- 
ling rose  and  lemon,  and  burning  with  a  sooty  flame.  Distilled  over 
■calcium  chloride,  H.  Morin  found  it  to  have  the  density  0'868  and  to 
boil  at  198°C.  It  is  levogyre,  soluble  in  alcohol,  ether  and  glycerin, 
reacts  violently  witli  bromine,  iodine  and  nitric  acid,  and  forms  with 
hydrochloric  acid  gas  a  thick  liquid  having  a  camphor-like  odor.  Its 
composition  is  CioH^gO,  and  when  treated  with  fused  zinc  chloride  it 
yields  a  hydrocarbon,  CjoHig,  having  a  turpentine-like  odor.  —  Compt. 
rend,,  xcii,  p.  998. 
Reactions  of  Thymol. — Hammarsten  and  Robbert  give  as  the  most 
•delicate  reaction  of  thymol  its  behavior  to  glacial  acetic  acid  and  sul- 
phuric acid.  The  liquid  is  mixed  with  half  its  volume  of  glacial 
acetic  acid  and  then  with  not  less  than  an  equal  volume  of  sulphuric 
acid.  On  warming  the  mixture  a  beautiful  reddish-violet  color  is 
produced,  which  is  very  permanent  and  not  destroyed  by  an  excess  of 
acid  or  by  boiling.  It  is  plainly  observed  in  dilutions  of  1  :  1,000,000; 
presence  of  compounds,  which  by  the  acid  are  colored  yellow  or  brown, 
should  be  avoided. 
Thymol  is  readily  dissolved  from  its  solution  in  100,000  of  water, 
by  agitation  with  ether,  particularly  after  the  addition  of  a  few  drops 
of  hydrochloric  acid.  But  normal  urine  contains  a  substance  which 
yields  a  product  of  similar  reaction  on  the  treatment  indicated.  On 
distilling  the  urine  without  the  addition  of  acid  the  above  color  reac- 
tion is  not  obtained  after  0*1  to  0*2  gram  thymol  had  been  taken 
internally.  However,  one-millionth  of  thymol  added  to  the  urine 
may  be  easily  detected. 
Compared  with  the  ordinary  phenol  reactions,  the  following  differ- 
•ences  are  observed : 
1.  Ferric  chloride — phenol,  blueish-violet  color;  thymol,  no  action. 
2.  Sodium  hypochlorite  and  anilin — blue  color  with  phenol  and 
thymol. 
3.  Sodium  hypochlorite  and  ammonia — phenol,  blue  color;  thymol, 
green  color  changing  to  blue-green,  and  after  4  days  to  red. 
4.  Millon's  reagent — phenol,  red  color,  permanent  on  boiling;  thy- 
mol, reddish-violet  color,  disappears  on  boiling. 
5.  Bromine  water — phenol,  crystalline  precipitate;  thymol,  turbidity. 
Phenol  may  be  detected  in  mixtures  with  thymol  by  ferric  chloride 
and  by  bromine  water. — Fhar.  Ztg.,  Aug.  31 ;  Upsala  Lakarefb.,  xvi, 
p.  630. 
