Alo*ctober^9(X)!m" }    Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  491 
SANDALWOOD  OIL. 
A  German  house  has  put  on  the  market  a  purified  product  of 
sandalwood  oil,  from  which,  it  is  claimed,  the  deleterious  constitu- 
ents of  the  native  oil  have  been  removed. 
Their  chemists,  von  Soden  and  Mueller  [Ph.  Zt.,  1899,  258),  re- 
port on  their  product,  which  they  claim  is  a  mixture  of,  at  least,  two 
closely  similar  sesquiterpene  alcohols,  of  the  formula  C15Ha5OH, 
basing  their  opinion  on  the  fact  that  different  distillation  fractions 
show  differing  polarization  intensity.  A  separation  of  the  con- 
stituents has  not  yet  been  accomplished. 
In  the  rejected  portion  of  the  oil,  the  writers  find  a  new  sesqui- 
terpene, C15H24,  which  they  call  santalene. 
It  is  laevogyre,  boils  at  26i°-262°,  and  has  specific  gravity  0*898 
at  1 50.  It  adds  two  molecules  of  hydrochloric  or  hydrobromic 
acids  or  of  bromine,  the  products  being  not  yet  obtained  in  crystal- 
line form.  Hydration  of  the  product  by  method  employed  by 
Wallach  and  Walker  with  caryophyllene  yielded  an  alcohol, 
C15H25OH,  boiling  at  i6o°-i65°  under  7  millimetres  pressure,  and 
differing  from  the  alcohols  found  in  their  specialty. 
'  The  writers  also  found  in  the  oil  a  phenol  of  unpleasant  odor,  a 
lactone,  an  acid  melting  at  1 540  and  some  borneol. 
H.  V.  A. 
ASSAY  OF  FRANGULA. 
In  a  contribution  from  the  Helfenberger  factory  [Ph.  Cent.,  1899, 
277),  Dr.  K.  Dieterich  discusses  Aweng's  investigation  of  frangula 
(see  A.  J.  P.,  1899,  398),  the  writer  assaying  the  drug,  by  estimation 
of  its  two  glucosides  by  successive  treatment  with  acetone  and  60  per 
cent,  alcohol,  in  an  endeavor  to  decide  if  the  heat  of  1000  necessary 
to  destroy  the  griping  ferment,  lessened  the  quantity  of  the  two  valu- 
able glucosides.  Examination  of  fresh  bark  and  the  same  heated  to 
100°  for  forty-eight  hours  showed  approximately  the  same  amount 
of  glucoside — 16-79  Per  cent,  of  the  acetone  soluble  glucoside  and 
17-18  per  cent,  of  the  other  against  16-16  per  cent,  and  17-64  per 
cent,  in  heated  bark — the  amount  in  both  being  estimated  on  water- 
free  bark. 
From  this  result,  the  writer  makes  the  important  suggestion  that 
the  ageing  process  now  directed  (keeping  one  year)  can  be  replaced 
by  heating  to  1000  for  forty-eight  hours.  H.  V.  A. 
