1 2  Oil  of  Cinnamon  Leaves.  { Amj&%^Mm" 
spectacles  or  additional  insurance,  a  process  that  the  youngest  appren- 
tice cannot  blunder  over  ;  easy,  efficient  and  economical,  what  more 
could  be  desired  ? 
Philadelphia,  December  ist,  1876. 
OIL  OF  CINNAMON  LEAVES. 
By  N.  A.  Kuhn. 
{Read  at  the  Monthly  Meeting  of  the  Alumni  Association,  P.  C.  P.,  Dec.  7th,  1876). 
This  oil  has  a  sharp,  biting  taste,  with  an  odor  reminding  at  first 
very  faintly  of  nutmegs,  afterwards  strongly  of  cloves,  but  if  heated 
with  KHO  that  of  cinnamon  is  predominant.  The  color  is  near 
that  of  true  oil  of  cinnamon,  and  the  specific  gravity  is  about  the  same, 
it  being  a  little  heavier  than  water,  sinking  when  put  in  that  liquid. 
It  does  not  fulminate  with  iodine,  does  not  give  any  color  with  nitro- 
prusside  of  copper,  nor  with  hydrochloric  acid  ;  with  nitric  acid  a 
brown  color  similar  to  an  iodine  stain  ;  with  sulphuric  acid  a  violet 
purple,  which  is  turned  brown  by  nitric  acid,  as  the  oil  treated  with 
the  latter  alone  is. 
A  portion  was  treated  in  a  test  tube  with  a  small  portion  of  sulphuric 
acid  and  potassium  bichromate.  In  the  vapors  from  this  a  piece  of 
bibulous  paper  that  had  been  dipped  first  in  guaiac  tincture,  then  in 
a  weak  solution  of  cupric  sulphate,  was  turned  blue,  showing  the 
presence  of  hydrocyanic  acid.  Care  was  taken  that  the  oxidizing  agent 
was  not  in  excess,  else  the  benzoic  aldehyd,  which  was  generated  from 
the  cinnamic  acid  contained  in  the  oil,  would  be  converted  into  benzoic 
acid,  which  is  odorless,  and  would  not  give  any  reaction  in  the  state  of 
vapor. 
This  reaction,  showing  the  presence  of  cinnamic  acid,  was  obtained 
from  the  distillate  of  the  next  also. 
Another  portion  of  the  oil,  after  adding  some  potassa,  was  heated 
and  the  vapor  condensed.  The  part  remaining  was  treated  with  dilute 
hydrochloric  acid  and  filtered.  To  the  filtrate  nitric  acid  was  added 
and  the  liquid  concentrated,  when  a  reddish-brown  resin  and  star-shaped 
crystals,  resembling  oxalate  of  ammonium,  were  obtained. 
A  solution  of  the  crystals  yielded  a  precipitate  with  calcium  chloride 
which  was  insoluble  in  acetic  acid,  but  soluble  in  hydrochloric  acid 
