Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Feb.,  1884. 
Oleum  Betulce  Lentce. 
85 
completely  at  282°-294°C.  to  have  the  same  composition  and  to  yield 
the  same  products  as  the  camphor.  In  1863  J.  H.  Gladstone  ("  Jour. 
Chem.  Soc")  ascertained  the  rotation  of  different  samples  of  the  oil  of 
patchouly  to  vary  between  0  and — 120°. 
OLEUM  BETULJE  LENTiE. 
* 
By  Geo.  W.  Kennedy,  Ph.G. 
Head  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting,  January  15,  1884. 
In  a  paper  on  this  subject,  read  at  the  last  meeting  of  the  American 
Pharmaceutical  Association,  I  stated  that  I  had  considerable  corres- 
pondence with  distillers  in  reference  to  the  manner  of  extracting  the 
oil  and  to  the  details  of  the  process.  After  the  analysis  made  by  Mr. 
Pettigrew  ("Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,"  1883,  page  385),  in  which  he  failed 
to  find  a  terpene  in  oil  of  birch,  and  maintained  that  on  this  account 
it  was  not  identical  with  oil  of  teaberry,  Prof.  Maisch  suggested  to  me 
in  conversation  that  perhaps  the  hydrocarbon  was  lost  in  the  distillation 
of  commercial  oil  of  teaberry  either  by  carelessness  or  through  igno- 
rance of  the  distiller,  or  by  some  defect  in  the  process  of  extracting  it. 
I  immediately  put  myself  in  communication  with  several  manufac- 
turers for  the  sole  purpose  of  ascertaining  from  them  full  particulars, 
more  particularly  as  to  the  separation  of  a  light  oil  floating  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  distillate.  The  replies  to  these  communications,  excepting 
one  or  two,  were  alike.  To  the  first  interrogation,  as  to  the  process  of 
extracting  the  oil,  I  find  the  modus  operandi  to  be  very  much  the 
same ;  there  is  little  or  no  difference.  To  the  second  inquiry,  as  to  the 
separation  of  a  light  oil,  with  one  or  two  exceptions  I  was  informed 
that  this  was  of  frequent  occurrence,  had  been  noticed  by  them  for  a 
long  time,  and  was  known  in  the  birch  fields  by  the  names  of  "  light 
ring  "  and  "  light  oil."  I  was  also  informed  that  no  care  was  taken 
to  secure  it,  as  it  was  considered  worthless,  of  no  value  whatever,  and 
that  it  was  allowed  to  run  off  over  the  receiving  vessel  (see  "Amer. 
Jour.  Phar.,"  1882,  page  49). 
After  such  strong  proof  from  the  distillers,  and  similar  assurance 
from  two  reliable  pharmacists,  who  handle  hundreds  of  pounds  of  the 
oil,  with  whom  I  was  in  communication,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
— provided  the  oil  was  properly  and  carefully  extracted — it  would 
