Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  > 
Oct.  1, 1874.  j" 
Licorice. 
473 
4.  Caustic  potash  or  soda  when  boiled  with  this  substance,  causes 
it  to  swell  up,  and  eventually  to  form  a  light  yellow  hard  mass,  only 
a  very  small  quantity  of  the  gum  being  dissolved. 
When  Kauri  gum  is  subjected  to  dry  distillation,  it  melts,  froths 
up,  and  gives  off  dense  fumes  along  with  a  quantity  of  a  heavy  oil, 
which  is  of  a  brown  color,  and  exhibits  a  green  fluorescence. 
Accompanying  this  oil  is  a  considerable  amount  of  water.  The 
yield  of  admixed  oil  and  water  amounts  to  about  one-half  of  the 
original  amount  of  gum ;  the  residue  in  the  retort  is  a  thick  dark  red 
liquid,  which  solidifies  on  cooling  to  a  brittle,  transparent  solid  mass. 
After  drying  the  oil  by  means  of  calcium  chloride,  and  subjecting 
it  to  distillation,  it  was  found  that  less  than  one-half  distilled  over 
below  320°  C,  and  that  the  remainder  solidified  when  cool  into  a 
substance  resembling  that  which  remained  after  the  distillation  of  the 
original  gum.  Of  the  oil  boiling  below  320°,  the  greater  portion  was 
found,  by  repeated  fractionation,  to  boil  between  155°  and  165°, 
while  a  small  quantity  boiled  between  270°  and  290°.  ' 
The  oil  boiling  between  155°  and  165°,  was  nearly  colorless,  had 
a  resinous  odor,  was  immiscible  in  water  but  soluble  in  a  tolerably 
large  amount  of  alcohol.  Its  specific  gravity  at  20°  was  -854,  on 
analysis  it  gave  the  following  numbers  : 
•172  grm.  gave  *216  grm.  water  =  -024  grm.  hydrogen  =  10*90 
per  cent. 
•172  grm.  gave  -499  grm.  carbon  dioxide  =  436  grm.  carbon  = 
79  07  per  cent.,  leaving  7*03  per  cent,  of  oxygen. 
These  numbers  would  lead  to  the  formula  C10II20O7,  but  the  quan- 
tity at  my  disposal  was  so  small,  that  I  do  not  feel  inclined  to  defi- 
nitely admit  the  correctness  of  this  formula  until  further  experiments 
have  been  undertaken. 
Hydrochloric  acid  gas  changes  this  oil  into  a  dark  greenish  brown 
liquid. 
The  quantity  of  Kauri  gum  which  I  obtained  from  New  Zealand 
was  too  small  to  admit  of  further  experiments  being  carried  out,  but  I*4 
hope  soon  to  receive  a  further  supply,  when  I  shall  resume  this  inves- 
tigation.— Journ.  Chem.  Soc,  Aug.,  1874. 
LICORICE. 
The  licorice  plant  may  be  seen  growing  at  Mitcham,  in  Surrey, 
and  at  Pontefract,  in  Yorkshire,  and  the  produce,  we  were  informed 
