Am'Ma°y,ri884arm'}        Composition  of  Oil  of  Gaultheria.  2C5 
ization  seems  a  difficult  one,  but  is  much  easier  than  either  of  the 
others.  The  oil  to  be  decolorized  is  put  into  a  bottle  and  crystals  of 
citric  acid  are  added,  the  whole  allowed  to  stand,  agitating  occasion- 
ally, until  the  oil  is  colorless,  or  nearly  so. 
On  experimenting  with  nine  quarts  of  wintergreen  fruit,  I  found  it 
contained  one  and  one-half  drachms  of  oil.  The  chief  uses  of  the  oil, 
are  for  flavoring  and  in  printing  fine  calicoes. 
In  experimental  distillation,  I  found  that  the  lower  specific  gravity 
is  due  to  the  separating  of  the  oil  from  the  water  too  quickly,  and  that 
the  higher  specific  gravity  is  obtained  by  letting  the  distillate  stand 
from  twenty-four  to  forty-eight  hours  before  separating  the  oil  from 
the  water. 
A  case  of  poisoning  occurred  in  1 883,  at  one  of  the  grocery  stores 
in  White  Haven,  Pa.  A  man  mistaking  the  oil  for  the  milky  water, 
drank  about  two  ounces;  he  was  taken  to  his  home  in  Easton,  Pa., 
and  died  in  about  five  hours. 
Parties  have  tried  to  export  the  oil,  but  did  not  succeed. 
ON  THE  COMPOSITION  OF  OIL  OF  GAULTHERIA. 
By  Harlan  P.  Pettigrew,  Ph.G. 
From  an  Inaugural  Essay. 
The  author  gives  a  brief  account  of  the  investigations  made  by  Prof. 
Procter  on  the  oil  of  sweet  birch  ("Amer.  Jour.  Phar.,"  xv,  p.  241), 
and  of  the  information  furnished  by  G.  W.  Kennedy  (Ibid.,  1882,  p. 
49),  regarding  its  manufacture  on  a  large  scale  and  its  sale  in  place  of 
oil  of  gaultheria;  and  he  refers  to  his  chemical  investigation  of  this 
oil  (Ibid.,  1883,  p.  385)  which  showed  it  to  be  methyl  salicylate.  The 
first  experiments  on  the  chemical  composition  were  made  by  Procter 
(Ibid.,  xiv,  211);  afterward  a  fuller  chemical  investigation  was  made 
by  Cahours  (Ibid.,  xv,  241,  from  "  Jour,  de  Phar.  et  de  Chim.,"  May, 
1843).  To  the  latter  is  generally  attributed  the  statement  that  this 
oil  contains  10  per  cent,  of  terpene;  but  in  the  French  journal  named 
no  mention  is  made  of  a  terpene,  and  the  presence  even  of  methyl 
alcohol  was  not  conclusively  proved,  as  the  following  abstract  from 
that  paper  shows :  "  On  treating  this  oil  with  a  solution  of  potassa  of 
45°B.,  to  which  fragments  of  that  alkali  were  added,  and  submitting 
the  mixture  to  a  regulated  heat  and  distilling,  a  distillate  was  obtained 
