208  Petroleum-Benzine  in  Oleo-resins.     {AMkJay  t5rafM" 
ON  THE  USE  OF  PETROLEUM-BENZINE  IN  MAKING  OLEO- 
RESINS. 
By  John  M.  Maisch. 
Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting  of  April  16th. 
Petroleum  benzine  is  an  excellent  solvent,  and  has  been  repeatedly 
suggested  for  introduction  into  the  pharmaceutical  laboratory,  particu- 
larly when,  in  consequence  of  the  high  tax  upon  alcohol,  the  price  of 
ether  and  the  other  derivatives  thereof  was  even  higher  than  at  pre- 
sent. It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  so-called  benzine  may  have  been 
substituted  wholly  or  in  part  for  ether  before  experiments  on  this  sub- 
ject were  published. 
In  1866  Professor  Procter*  proved  that  cubebs,  after  having  been 
exhausted  by  the  solvent  in  question,  yielded  to  ether  over  4  per  ct. 
of  cubebin,  waxy  matter,  chlorophyll,  with  a  little  pungent  resin.  Mr. 
H.  N.  Rittenhousef  therefore  suggested  to  prepare  oleo-resins  by  em- 
ploying first  ether,  and  finish  the  percolation  with  petroleum  benzine. 
In  1867  an  interesting  discussion  on  this  subject  took  place  at  the 
meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association, %  Dufc  tne  facts 
at  that  time  published  were  very  few  in  number. 
At  the  close  of  the  last  session  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Phar- 
macy two  essays  were  presented,  both  treating  of  this  question  from 
a  different  standpoint,  without,  however,  exhausting  it.  Notwith- 
standing this,  the  results  are  sufficiently  interesting  to  deserve  notice. 
Mr.  Alfred  II.  Bolton  treated  powdered  capsicum,  cubebs  and  ginger 
with  petroleum  benzine,  spec.  grav.  700,  and  exhausted  them  by  the 
process  of  repercolation,  whereby  the  powders  were  left  entirely  or 
almost  tasteless ;  three  troyounces  of  the  powders  named  yielded 
respectively  six,  four  and  one  fluidrachms  of  oleo-resins. 
Mr.  Milton  W.  Roth  operated  on  ginger  and  cubebs,  and  observed 
that  these  substances,  when  exhausted  by  petroleum  benzine,  spec, 
grav.  686  to  710,  would  again  yield  to  ether  some  nonvolatile  matter, 
which  it  is  to  be  regretted  was  not  sufficiently  examined  ;  the  benzine 
oleo-resins  of  both  drugs  were  perfectly  soluble  in  ether,  but  the  ethe- 
rial  oleo-resins  yielded  precipitates  on  being  mixed  with  benzine.  It 
follows  conclusively  from  these  experiments,  what  Prof.  Procter  (loc. 
cit.)  proved  in  1866  for  cubebs,  that  the  benzine  oleo-resins  are  not 
*  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  1866,  210. 
f  Proceedings  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  1866,  p.  208. 
%  Proceedings,  1867,  page  94. 
