Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
Nov.,  1878.  j 
Miscible  Copaiba. 
ified  balsam  of  the  usual  character,  except  that  it  had  a  little  more 
color. 
No.  3  took  a  considerable  time  to  settle  down  into  three  tolerably 
distinct  layers,  the  lowest  portion  dark  and  dense,  occupying  about  one- 
fourth  of  the  space,  the  middle  of  darker  color  still  but  less  abundant, 
the  upper  fluid  but  both  paler  and  thinner  than  the  original  Gurgun 
balsam.     It  was  not  emulsible. 
A  sixth  mixture  was  now  prepared  with  i\  fluidounces  of  Maran. 
ham  balsam  of  copaiba  and  \  fluidounce  of  oil  of  tartar.  This  com- 
ported itself  very  differently  from  No.  1.  It  took  much  longer  time  to 
settle,  and  during  the  operation  deposited  neither  crystals  nor  viscid 
resin.  In  fact  the  whole  of  the  fluid  portion  was  saponified  and  ren- 
dered readily  emulsible. 
It  seems  then  that  in  order  to  prepare  a  perfectly  miscible  copaiba, 
the  oil  of  tartar  must  be  added  in  proportion  to  the  acid  resins  present 
in  the  balsam,  and  that  experiment  only  can  reveal  what  that  proportion 
should  be. 
The  peculiar  behavior  of  the  Para  balsam  in  contact  with  the  oil  of 
tartar  points  to  the  existence  of  radical  difference  between  it  and  the 
Maranham  variety.  Whether  it  be  anything  more  than  this,  that  it 
contains  a  larger  quantity  of  the  essential  oil  than  the  saponified  resin  is 
capable  of  dissolving,  further  experiment  must  decide.  I  think  it  must 
be  something  more,  as  I  find  the  essential  oil  of  the  Para  balsam  is  not 
miscible  with  the  completely  saponified  Maranham  balsam,  or  with  the 
saponifiable  portion  of  the  Para  balsam,  and  it  is  in  my  opinion  quite  a 
moot  point  whether  the  essential  oil  of  copaiba  is  in  any  proportidh 
soluble  in  the  saponified  balsam.  In  fact  I  am  inclined  to  regard  the 
Maranham  variety  as  a  balsam,  the  Para  variety  as  a  balsam  plus  es- 
sential oil. 
There  are,  I  am  aware,  other  varieties  of  balsam  of  copaiba  known 
to  commerce  to  which  it  might  be  interesting  to  apply  this  test,  but  it 
would  be  necessary  to  be  quite  sure  about  the  identity  and  purity  of  the 
samples.  Balsams  of  varied  origin  and  also  resinified  essential  oils  might 
also  be  subjected  to  experiment. 
For  administration  in  capsules  this  miscible  copaiba  would  seem  to 
offer  some  advantages  over  the  ordinary  balsam.  It  would  mix  more 
evenly  with  the  contents  of  the  stomach,  and  not  float  on  the  surface, 
causing  pain  and  nausea.    Moreover,  the  alkali  present  would  be  bene- 
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