290 
OBSERVATIONS ON COPAIBA. 
dorffii and C. coriacea, but the sources of the Angostura, 
Maracaibo, and West Indian drugs are quite uncertain, al- 
though attributed to C. officinalis. It is to be regretted that 
so accurate an observer as Dr. Weddell, did not investigate 
the Copaiferas, whilst a sojourner in South America. 
The extensive demand for copaiba has caused it to be 
sought in various localities, and from numerous species; and 
it is probable that climate, and the modes of extraction and 
preservation, taken in connection with its variable botani- 
cal origin, may be referred to as the most prominent and 
active causes of the remarkable variations in the sensible 
properties and chemical constitution of the drug itself. It 
is with a view of throwing some additional light on this 
subject that the writer has hazarded an opinion in relation 
to the collection of some specimens of the drug, found in 
commerce of late years, which he has not as yet been able 
to verify or disprove, by information obtained from their geo- 
graphical sources, but which is based on observations made 
on the effects of age and exposure on copaiba, and its vola- 
tile oil. 
In approaching the subject, it will be viewed 1st, in refer- 
ence to the proximate constituents of copaiba. 2d. The 
proportional relation of these in the copaibas of commerce. 
3d. The causes existing and acting, before and after the 
juice is extracted, which modify the quantitative relation of 
its constituents. And lastly, conclusions. 
1st. The proximate constituents of copaiba, from what- 
ever source, are volatile oil and resin, with a minute portion 
of some soluble organic acid (probably the acetic or succi- 
nic) and in some instances fatty matter. 
The volatile oil of copaiba is constituted much like that 
of turpentine. Its equivalent is C ]0 H 8 which makes it iso- 
meric with the oil of lemons, and just one half of that of 
oil of turpentine. It forms a crystalline artificial camphor 
with hydrochloric acid gas, which differs from those of the 
oils of turpentine and lemons. Its specific gravity is. 878 ; 
