414 
Distribution  of  Safrol. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
X     August,  1887. 
obtained  showed  9*22  per  cent.,  or  nearly  3  per  cent,  more  than  was 
really  present. 
If  such  known  mixtures  give  differences  of  this  kind,  little  is  to  be 
expected  of  this  test  when  applied  to  commercial  quinine  sulphate,  as 
will  be  seen  from  the  following  results  with  the  sulphate  above  men- 
tioned (II)  which  gave — 
Bisulphate  Crystalliza-  Oxalate 
test.        tion  test.  test. 
Cinch onidine  sulphate  5*09  4*64  10*22 
Evidently,  therefore,  the  oxalate  test  is  not  less  defective  than 
the  optical  test  in  giving  too  high  an  indication  of  the  amount  of 
cinchonidine  salt. 
It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  the  sample  II  containing  5*09 
per  cent,  cinchonidine  just  passed  the  test  given  in  the  second  edition  of 
the  German  Pharmacopoeia.  With  another  sample  I  found  that  this 
test  passed  7*2  per  cent.  On  a  former  occasion,  in  testing  according 
to  my  optical  test  a  sample  which  only  just  passed  the  test  given  in 
the  first  edition  of  the  German  Pharmacopoeia,  my  results  in  two 
experiments  showed  12*92  and  13*02  per  cent,  cinchonidine  sulphate, 
which  appeared  so  questionable  that  I  made  further  experiments  with 
the  bisulphate  method  and  the  tartrate  method  (Oudeman's  optical 
test),  and  found  by  the  former  8*46  per  cent.,  but  by  the  latter  15*7 
per  cent,  cinchonidine  sulphate.  The  cause  of  this  high  result — not 
altogether  due  to  the  presence  of  hydroquinine — was  not  clearly 
ascertained,  but  the  experiment  gives  another  illustration  of  the 
untrustworthy  nature  of  the  tartrate  method. 
THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  SAFROL. 
By  Professor  Fluckiger. 
The  prevailing  constituent  of  the  essential  oil  of  sassafras  root  is 
Safrol,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  text-books;  for  instance,  in  'Pharmaco- 
graphia/  second  edition  p.  536.  In  the  crude  oil,  safrol  is  held 
in  solution  by  the  hydrocarbon  safrene,  C10H16,  and  may  be 
separated  either  by  fractional  distillation  or  by  cooling  the  oil.  Safrol 
liquefies  at  12°  (53°*6F.)  and  yields  very  large  and  fine  prisms,  which 
I  caused  to  be  exactly  investigated  crystal lographically  by  Professor 
Arzcuni,  as  mentioned  in  '  Pharmacographia.'  The  large  crystals  of 
safrol  are  very  little  softer  than  those  of  gypsum.  Although  they 
cannot  be  kept  at  a  temperature  exceeding  their  melting  point,  they 
