162  Balsam  of  IAquidambar  Styracifiua.  {A™Av?X'wt*' 
spots  of  a  pure  white  color.  It  has  a  pleasant  benzoinic  odor,  and  a 
balsamic  and  somewhat  burning  taste.  It  is  soluble  in  alcohol,  ether, 
chloroform  and  fixed  oils :  its  alcoholic  solution  slightly  reddening 
litmus  paper. 
With  the  view  of  ascertaining  its  constituents,  a  specimen,  collected 
in  south-eastern  Virginia,  was  submitted  to  the  following  treatment : 
Four  ounces  avoirdupois  of  the  balsam,  in  a  semi-liquid  state,  was 
distilled  with  an  aqueous  solution  of  sodium  carbonate  as  long  as  any 
oil  continued  to  come  over.  The  distillate  contained,  floating  on  the 
surface  of  the  water,  about  half  a  drachm  of  colorless  oil. 
The  liquid  remaining  in  the  retort  was  filtered  from  the  resin,  and 
sulphuric  acid  in  slight  excess  added  to  decompose  the  cinnamate  of 
sodium.  The  result  was  a  copious  deposit  of  a  light  yellowish  color. 
This  was  collected  and  washed  on  a  filter  till  free  of  sulphuric  acid  ; 
it  was  then  dried  and  heated  with  hot  petroleum  benzin,  which  dis- 
solved all  except  a  little  brown  resinous  matter.  The  benzin  solution, 
while  still  hot,  was  decanted  into  another  vessel,  and  allowed  to  cool. 
It  was  then  found  to  have  deposited  all  the  acid,  in  small,  perfectly 
white,  needle-shaped  crystals. 
The  liquid  filtered  from  the  precipitate,  obtained  by  decomposing 
the  first  solution  by  sulphuric  acid,  appeared  quite  cloudy,  and  by 
tests  was  found  still  to  contain  some  cinnamic  acid.  It  was  carefully 
evaporated  to  dryness,  and  the  residue  treated  with  boiling  benzin, 
which,  on  being  decanted  and  allowed  to  cool,  deposited  a  small 
amount  of  a  white  amorphous  powder.  This  was  collected,  and  all 
the  benzin  having  been  removed  by  careful  heating,  was  boiled  with 
a  small  quantity  of  water.  It  was  readily  dissolved,  the  solution 
giving  an  acid  reaction,  and  on  cooling  deposited  quite  a  quantity  of 
long,  colorless,  acicular  crystals.  These  were  dried  and  treated  with 
hot  benzin,  which  at  once  dissolved  them,  and  on  cooling  deposited 
them  in  the  usual-shaped  crystals  of  cinnamic  acid. 
As  the  decompositions  in  its  amorphous  condition  were  identical 
with  those  of  crystallized  cinnamic  acid,  and  as  it  was  converted  into 
a  crystalline  state  simply  by  dissolving  in  water,  in  its  amorphous 
condition  it  must  have  been  cinnamic  anhydride. 
The  amount  of  impurities  in  the  balsam  (consisting  of  pieces  of 
bark,  dirt,  etc.),  was  160  grs. ;  this  deducted  from  the  original  weight, 
4  oz.  avoirdupois,  leaves  1590  grs.  of  pure  balsam  operated  upon  ; 
the  amount  of  acid  obtained  was  88  grs.,  making  a  yield  of  about  5J 
per  cent. 
