ON  DIFFERENT  VARIETIES  OF  CREASOTE.  257 
upon  peroxide  of  manganese,  but  also  enables  him  to  nearly 
double  his  productions  of  those  products  from  a  given  quantity 
of  hydrochloric  acid. — Lond.  Pharm.  Journ.,  Feb.  1868. 
ON  THE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  DIFFERENT  VARIE- 
TIES OF  CREASOTE. 
Although  the  creasote  of  coal-oil  is  often  employed  in  pharm- 
acy as  a  substitute  for  the  creasote  of  beechwood,  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  the  two  products  are  identical.  An  observation 
made  by  M.  Rust  has  led  to  the  discovery  of  a  reaction  which 
permits  of  easily  distinguishing  between  the  two  creasotes, 
namely,  that  creasote  from  coal  forms  with  collodion  a  kind  of 
jelly,  whilst  beechwood  creasote  produces  nothing  of  the  kind. 
In  Germany,  a  mixture  of  this  sort  is  frequently  employed 
for  toothache,  composed  of  equal  parts  of  collodion  and  creasote  : 
it  should  be  gelatinous.  Occasionally  the  product  refuses  to 
gelatinize,  and  this  happens  in  dealing  with  beechwood  creasote  ; 
the  collodion  thickens  a  little  without  losing  fluidity. 
The  following  are  other  reactions  which  serve  to  assist  in 
characterizing  the  two  species  of  creasote : — 
Beechwood  creasote  is  insoluble  in  ammonia,  and  gives  with 
excess  of  weak  potash  a  turbid  solution. 
Creasote  from  coal  is  insoluble  in  ammonia  in  the  cold,  but 
dissolves,  forming  a  clear  solution  upon  application  of  heat.  It 
also  gives  a  clear  solution  with  weak  liquor  potassse. 
Lastly,  with  a  neutral  solution  of  perchloride  of  iron,  beech- 
wood creasote,  dissolved  in  alcohol,  gives  a  green  coloration, 
whilst  in  alcohol  solution  of  the  coal-oil  is  colored  brown.  With 
aqueous  solutions,  on  the  contrary,  creasote  does  not  change 
color,  whilst  coal-tar  creasote  furnishes  a  blue. 
According  to  an  observation  of  M.  Hlasiwetz,  true  creasote  is 
found  among  the  products  of  the  distillation  of  guaiacum  resin 
mixed  with  a  homologue,  C14H804,*  *  which  has  been  named 
guaiacol.  It  has  been  remarked  by  M.  Gorup-Besanez  that  this 
latter  body  is  also  contained  in  ordinary  wood-creasote  in  con- 
siderable proportion.    It  is  the  opinion  of  several  chemists  that 
*C=6. 
17 
