Am'ja0nuyif9oarm'}     The  Oils  of  Winter  green  and  Birch. 
9 
THE  OILS  OF  WINTERGREEN  AND  BIRCH. 
By  Henry  Trimble  and  Hermann  J.  M.  Schroeter. 
Contribution  from  the  Chemical  Laboratory  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy,  No.  64. 
Read  at  the  Pharmaceutical  Meeting  December  17th. 
Under  the  above  title  we  published  in  this  Journal  for  August,  1889, 
page  398,  a  paper  which  has  recently  been  criticized  at  considerable 
length  by  Prof.  F.  B.  Power  in  the  Phar.  Bundsch.,  of  New  York, 
December,  1889.  This  critic  states  that  "good  and  sufficient  reasons 
might  be  presented  for  inferring  a  priori  the  incorrectuess  of  many  of 
their  [our]  statements,"  and  with  this  preliminary  bias  he  proceeds  to 
substantiate  his  belief  by  examining  a  sample  of  (1)  oil  of  wintergreen, 
(2)  oil  of  birch  which,  however,  he  claims  was  adulterated,  and  (3) 
"  synthetic  oil  of  wintergreen,"  furnished  him  by  the  agents  of  the 
manufacturers. 
We  proposed  a  new  method  for  separating  the  hydrocarbon  from 
the  above  natural  oils  by  agitating  the  saponified  mixture  with  ether 
or  petroleum  ether.  Prof.  Power  is  unable  to  get  results  agreeing 
with  ours;  he,  however,  now  finds  that  the  hydrocarbon  is  a  viscid 
liquid,  a  fact  he  had  not  previously  noted  until  we  found  it  to  solidify 
at  about  10°  C,  but  he  will  not  admit  that  we  determined  its  vapor 
density,  because  in  his  fruitless  efforts  to  carry  out  the  same  process 
he  found  it  decomposed  at  the  temperatures  of  300°,  360°  C.  (! !)  and 
over,  which  he  employed. 
We  suggest  to  him  that  no  one  but  a  novice  would  think  of  taking 
the  vapor  density  of  such  an  easily  decomposable  substance  at  from 
100°  to  200°  above  its  boiling  point.  We,  therefore,  feel  justified  in 
endorsing  his  language  and  saying  that  his  efforts  "  possess  no  scien- 
tific value." 
We  saponified  our  oils  at  the  temperature  of  a  water-bath  in  one- 
half  hour,  and  are  of  the  opinion  that  a  lower  temperature  and  shorter 
time  will  accomplish  the  purpose.  Mr.  H.  P.  Pettigrew1  boiled  the 
oils  he  investigated  for  six  hours  with  a  concentrated  solution  of 
potassium  hydrate.  Is  it  remarkable  that  he  did  not  find  a  hydro- 
carbon in  oil  of  birch  ?  During  such  an  ordeal  it  was  either  decom- 
posed or  escaped  condensation.  Since  Prof.  Power  has  repeatedly 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Pettigrew's  experiments  were  con- 
1  Amer.  Jour,  of  Pharm.,  1883,  p.  386. 
