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Oleum  Gauliherice. 
(Am.  Jour.  Pharm- 
1       May,  1884. 
OLEUM  GAULTHERIJE. 
By  Isaac  Edward  Leonard,  Ph.G. 
Abstract  from  a  Thesis. 
Oil  of  wintergreen  was  first  made  in  Luzerne  county,  Pa.,  in  1863, 
from  which  time  it  has  been  distilled  in  great  quantities,  with  the 
exception  of  last  year,  when  the  yield  was  not  so  plentiful,  owing  to 
the  destruction  of  the  shrubberies  by  the  fire  which  passed  over  our 
mountains. 
In  distilling,  the  entire  overground  portion  of  the  plant  is  employed, 
which  has  its  greatest  yield  during  the  months  of  July  and  August. 
The  still  is  generally  a  wooden  box,  about  eight  feet  long,  four  feet 
wide,  four  feet  high,  with  a  copper  bottom  and  staid  with  bolts.  The 
head  of  the  still  is  copper,  and  connecting  with  this  is  a  square  or  cir- 
cular worm  of  the  same  material  or  of  tin,  placed  in  a  barrel.  The 
still  being  filled  with  wintergreen  to  within  about  twelve  inches  of  the 
top,  a  sufficient  quantity  of  water  is  added,  and  this  is  allowed  to 
macerate  from  ten  to  twelve  hours.  The  fire  being  started,  the  dis- 
tillation commences  and  continues  for  about  eight  hours ;  but  during 
the  first  two  or  three  hours,  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  oil  has  passed  over. 
For  collecting  the  distillate,  most  of  the  stillers  use  a  wide  mouth  bot- 
tle or  fruit  jar,  fitted  with  a  large  cork  having  two  holes.  A  small 
tin  or  glass  funnel  is  put  into  one  of  the  holes,  so  that  the  beak  of  the 
funnel  is  below  the  shoulder  of  the  receiving  vessel,  and  connected 
with  the  other  hole  is  a  suitable  pipe  forming  an  egress.  The  distil- 
late passes  into  the  receiving  vessel  through  the  funnel.  It  is  here 
that  the  oil  and  the  water  separates,  the  oil  going  to  the  bottom,  and 
the  water  being  lighter  and  in  excess  passes  through  the  egress  pipe 
into  a  larger  receptacle,  where  it  is  reserved  for  a  subsequent  opera- 
tion (cohobation). 
Occasionally  the  oil  is  very  highly  colored.  I  have  found  several 
samples  to  contain  traces  of  iron,  which  is  due  to  the  oxidation  of  the 
tin  worm  or  can  with  which  the  oil  comes  in  contact.  Tin  worms  are 
used  on  account  of  their  cheapness,  but  will  only  last  about  two  weeks,, 
before  they  undergo  oxidation. 
The  wholesale  dealers  that  handle  the  oil  in  large  quantities  have 
three  ways  of  "  cleaning  "  it,  re-distillation,  filtration,  and  decoloriza- 
tion.    The  first  two  processes  are  easily  understood,  while  the  decolor- 
