As^ptJembe?,hS-}        Oil  from  Monarda  Punctata.  469 
of  making  the  first  pharmaceutical  preparation  (the  fluid  extract), 
and  of  bringing  this  preparation  into  general  conspicuity  through 
their  advertisements  and  business  connections.  It  may  be  said, 
without  danger  of  controversy,  that  this  firm  introduced  and  estab- 
lished cascara  sagrada  as  a  remedy. 
To  Dr.  C.  H.  Adair  (1878),  of  Colusa,  Cal.,  is  due  the  credit 
of  furnishing  the  botanical  specimens  that  established  the  drug's 
botanical  position. 
ON  THE  CHEMICAL  COMPOSITION  OF  THE  OIL  FROM_. 
MONARDA  PUNCTATA,  L.1 
By  Wiwam  Robert  Schumann  and  Edward  Kremers. 
In  a  paper  on  the  "  Chemical  Composition  of  the  Volatile  Oil 
from  Monarda  Fistulosa,"2  one  of  us  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
although  examinations  of  four  specimens  of  Monarda  punctata  have 
been  recorded,  none  of  these  specimens  are  authentic. 
In  1846  an  oil  of  horsemint,  supposed  to  be  derived  from  Mon- 
arda punctata,  was  examined  by  Arppe.3  In  1888  an  examination 
of  oils  supposed  to  be  obtained  from  Monarda  punctata  was  made 
by  Mr.  Schroeter.4  One  sample  of  oil  was  taken  from  the  cabinet 
of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  where  it  had  been  stand- 
ing for  six  years,  during  which  time  it  had  deposited  crystals  of 
thymol.  The  other  two  specimens  were  evidently  obtained  in  the 
open  market,  from  reliable  sources.  However,  for  none  of  the 
four  specimens  of  oil  heretofore  examined  is  there  any  positive 
guarantee  given  as  to  their  source.  Arppe  separated  mechanically 
a  crystalline  stearopten,  evidently  thymol,  which  had  been  deposited 
upon  standing.  Schroeter  states  that  the  oil  contains  a  hydrocarbon 
of  the  formula  C10Hl6 ;  thymol,  "which  is  dextrogyrate  ;"  a  com- 
pound, C10H18O,  boiling  between  240°-250°,  and  formic,  acetic 
and  butyric  acids. 
The  oils  used,  the  methods  employed,  as  well  as  the  description 
of  some  of  the  results,  e.  g.,  the  rotatory  power  of  the  optically 
1  Presented  at  the  Montreal  Meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Associa- 
tion. 
2 Proc.  Am.  Phar.  Assoc.,  43,  256. 
3  Annalen  d.  Chem.  und  Pharm.,  58,  41. 
4  Am.  Jour.  Pharmacy,  1888,  p.  113. 
