THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY. 
FEBRUARY,  1882. 
OLEUM  BETULJE  LENT.E. 
By  George  W.  Kennedy,  Ph.G. 
Bead  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting^  January  17. 
Having  received  several  pressing  invitations  from  Mr.  A.  H.  Seidle^. 
of  Middleport,  Schuylkill  county,  Pa., — a  small  village  situated  mid- 
way between  Pottsville  and  Tamaqua,  on  the  Reading  Railroad,  about 
9  miles  east  from  the  former  and  8  J  miles  west  from  the  latter  place 
— to  visit  him  and  inspect  his  apparatus  used  in  distilling  oil  of  tea- 
berry,  so-called,  the  writer  accepted,  and  recently  made  a  visit  to  the 
place.  Arriving  at  the  village  early  in  the  morning  I  was  received 
very  kindly  by  the  gentleman,  and  after  a  walk  of  about  a  half  mile 
we  reached  the  building  where  the  oil  is  made,  which  is  an  ordinary 
one-story  frame  building ;  but  quite  large,  and  roomy  enough  for 
erecting  additional  stills  and  manufacturing  considerable  more  of  the 
oil  than  is  made  at  present.  The  whole  process  was  explained  to  the 
writer  in  a  very  satisfactory  manner,  commencing  with  the  cutting 
down  of  the  tree  to  the  final  packing  of  the  oil  ready  to  be  shipped. 
There  was  no  concealment  made  of  a  single  point ;  in  fact,  the  pro- 
prietor was  anxious  for  me  to  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the 
preparation  of  the  oil. 
In  locating  a  place  for  the  distillation  of  the  oil,  there  are  several 
things  to  be  taken  into  consideration.  First,  to  have  an  abundance  of 
material  conveniently  at  hand,  so  that  the  supply  may  not  soon  be 
exhausted  ;  and  second,  a  good  supply  of  water.  The  above-named 
place  in  these  respects  seems  to  be  a  very  desirable  spot  for  some  time 
to  come.  I  was  told  by  the  proprietor  that  sometimes  the  teaberry 
leaf  is  used  exclusively,  at  other  times  the  birch  and  wintergreen  are 
mixed,  and  at  this  season  of  the  year  birch  is  used  to  the  exclusion  of 
all  others ;  the  oil  extracted  from  all  is  mixed,  and  sold  as  oil  of  win- 
tergreen. For  a  long  time  the  oil  of  birch,  wintergreen  and  of  other 
plants  have  been  considered  almost  identical,  if  not  altogether  so,  and 
4 
