Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
Nor.  1, 1872.  / 
Note  on  Guaiacol. 
503 
The  use  of  oil  of  turpentine  or  chloroform  softens  the  cerate  and 
increases  its  adhesiveness,  a  property  which  is  always  desirable.  These 
agents  are  easily  applied,  and  their  effect  upon  cantharides  is  invaria- 
bly positive.  Therefore,  in  the  absence  of  an  authorized  process  with 
reliable  results,  the  writer  recommends  the  application  of  oil  of  tur- 
pentine or  chloroform. 
Prof.  Dragendorff  suggests  that  prepared  cantharides  could  be  ad- 
Tantageously  employed  for  the  preparation  of  cantharidin.  But  it  is 
the  writer's  opinion  that  it  would  be  vastly  more  practical  to  exhaust 
the  cantharides  with  alcoholic  potash,  neutralize  the  tincture  with 
-chlorhydric  acid,  distil  off  the  alcohol,  and  take  up  the  cantharidin 
from  the  residue  with  chloroform  or  ether. — Pharmacist  and  Ohem. 
Record,  August,  1872. 
NOTE  ON  GUAIACOL. 
By  John  Williams,  F.C.S. 
In  a  recent  number  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal  (No.  92, 
third  series,  page  788),  attention  was  drawn  to  the  statement  that 
creasote  consisted  mainly  of  a  body  called  "Guaiacol,"  and  which 
was  a  product  of  the  destructive  distillation  of  gum  guaiacum.  As 
this  appeared  to  be  a  fact  of  some  interest  I  determined  to  prepare  a 
little  of  the  substance  and  compare  its  properties  with  those  of  the 
ordinary  creasote  of  commerce. 
The  process  of  preparing  it  is  as  follows  : — Gum  guaiacum  reduced 
to  powder  is  exposed  in  a  shallow  iron  pan  to  considerable  heat,  suf- 
ficient to  cause  the  commencement  of  charring,  and  until  every  trace 
of  water  is  driven  off.  We  thus  avoid  the  frothing,  which  otherwise 
renders  the  distillation  of  the  gum  a  very  difficult  matter.  When  the 
mass  has  been  thus  heated  for  some  time  it  is  transferred  to  an  iron 
retort,  furnished  with  a  long  iron  tube,  to  act  as  a  condenser.  The 
heat  must  be  increased  gradually  to  low  redness,  and  continued  as 
long  as  any  tarry  matter  continues  to  distil.  In  this  way  a  product 
is  obtained  amounting  to  about  one-third  the  weight  of  the  gum  em- 
ployed. 
This  tar  is  again  placed  in  an  iron  retort  and  distilled,  when  it 
yields  about  one-third  of  its  bulk  of  a  light  brown  oily  liquid.  This 
brown  oil  is  treated  with  a  solution  of  caustic  soda,  which  dissolves  a 
part  of  the  oil,  but  leaves  a  considerable  quantity  which  must  be  sep- 
arated and  rejected.    The  alkaline  solution  of  the  oil  is  now  placed  in 
