SYRUPUS  ASSAF(ETIDA. 
211 
source  that  olive  oil  is  largely  adulterated  with  cotton-seed  oil. 
A  friend  of  mine,  largely  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  plas- 
ters, purchased  several  casks  of  olive  oil,  which  he  found  to  be 
entirely  unfit  for  his  purpose,  and  upon  examining  it,  was  satis- 
fied that  about  two-thirds  of  it  consisted  of  cotton-seed  oil.  The 
specimen  of  oil,  with  which  the  preceding  experiments  were 
performed,  is  the  winter  bleached.  Its  specific  gravity  is  •921  ; 
it  is  insoluble  in  alcohol,  soluble  in  chloroform  in  all  proportions, 
and  in  not  less  than  its  own  bulk  of  ether.  Sulphuric  acid  turns 
it  of  a  deep  red  color,  almost  a  brown.  Nitric  and  hydrochloric 
acids  have  no  effect  upon  it,  either  hot  or  cold.  If  the  oil  be 
heated  much  above  its  boiling  point,  it  will  take  fire,  and  burn 
with  a  dull  reddish  flame,  giving  ofi"  but  little  smoke  ;  and  if  the 
heat  is  removed,  the  color  of  the  flame  will  gradually  change  to 
a  pale  blue,  similar  to  that  of  burning  alcohol,  and  finally  die 
out,  leaving  part  of  the  oil  unconsumed. 
Though  my  facilities  for  experimenting,  and  the  number  of 
experiments  performed,  were  necessarily  limited,  yet  I  think 
they  are  sufficient  to  prove  that  this  oil  would  make  a  valuable 
addition  to  our  officinal  list.  Here  we  have  a  domestic  oil,  which 
can  be  purchased  pure,  (there  being  no  inducement  to  adulterate 
it,)  at  about  one-half  the  price  of  olive  oil ;  and  I  see  no  reason 
why  we  should  not  make  use  of  it,  in  every  instance  where  it  is 
capable  of  being  substituted  for  that  oil,  instead  of  paying  an 
exorbitant  price  for  what  we  do  not  get ;  as  all  will  admit,  two- 
thirds  of  our  olive  oil  is  adulterated. 
SYRUPUS  ASSAFCETIDJE. 
By  Jos.  A.  Heintzelman. 
As  syrup  of  assafoetida  is  frequently  prescribed  by  physicians, 
I  had  occasion  to  contrive  a  better  plan  for  making  it,  than  by 
rubbing  the  assafetida  simply  with  hot  water,  and  adding  suf- 
ficient quantity  of  sugar  to  the  strained  saturated  water.  Such 
a  process  results  in  a  turbid  syrup,  and  after  standing  four 
weeks  or  longer,  the  resin,  which  partly  has  been  held  suspended, 
separates  and  collects  on  the  sides  of  the  bottle,  and  if  shaken 
up  disturbs  altogether  the  elegancy  of  a  syrup. 
The  method  which  I  use,  to  make  the  syrup  in  question,  is 
