204  Some  Studies  on  the  Oxy-pinenes.  {Am"^yri9i!?arm- 
The  Oxidation-Process,  Chemistry  and  Bibliography  of  the 
Oxy-pinenes. 
When  man  awakened  to  the  fact  that  Nature  itself  provided 
remedies  for  his  ills,  his 'attention  undoubtedly  was  first  turned  to 
turpentine  and  its  oxidation  products.  Turpentine,  this  wonderful, 
aromatic  exudation  from  the  pine  forests  in  which  he  lived,  and  its 
still  more  wonderful  oxidations,  varying  in  consistency  from  a  light, 
amber-colored  syrup  to  a  hard  rosin,  could  not  help  but  attract  his 
attention. 
This  fact  can  be  verified  in  our  days,  for  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  Scandinavian  peninsula,  as  well  as  in  the  pine  districts  of  this 
country,  the  first  thing  that  inhabitants  and  lumber  workers  turn  to 
in  their  illness  is  the  friendly  pine-exudations. 
It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  therefore,  that  as  far  as  the  history 
of  materia  medica  and  therapeutics  goes  back  we  will  find  the  name 
of  "  Terebinthina  "  mentioned  and  its  properties  discussed. 
And  this  is  proper,  for  nowhere  in  Nature  can  be -found  a  more 
marvellous  "  dead  "  organic  substance  than  this  one  which,  like  a 
living  being,  inhales  oxygen  from  the  air  and,  transforming  it,  gives 
it  off  in  another  form. 
Nevertheless,  the  process  by  which  this  takes  place  and  the  nature 
and  chemistry  of  the  changes  are  almost  as  great  a  mystery  in  this 
age  of  science  as  it  was  at  the  time  of  the  cave-dwellers. 
I  have  above  given  a  short  history  of  the  oxy-pinenes ;  it  will  be  my 
endeavor  now  to  show  the  chemical  processes  which  take  place  when 
pinene  absorbs  and  gives  off  oxygen  in  its  different  forms  in  a 
natural  way,  without  entering  upon  the  possible  derivations  of  the 
oxy-pinenes,  on  which  volumes  already  have  been  written  and  many 
more  could  be  written. 
In  this  connection  it  should  be  stated  that  no  distinction  can  be 
made  between  the  oxygen-carrying  property  of  pure  pinene  and  tur- 
pentine, because  it  has  been  established  time  and  again  that  the 
reason  that  the  latter  is  an  oxygen  carrier  is  entirely  due  to  the 
presence  of  its  principal  constituent,  pinene. 
It  will  be  sufficient  to  quote  one  authority  on  this  point :  C.  Engler 
and  J.  Weissberg  {Ber.,  vol.  31)  prove,  by  very  exhaustive  and  ex- 
tensive parallel  experiments,  "  that  the  oxygen-carrying  property  of 
turpentine  is  not  due  to  impurities,  but  solely  to  the  presence  of 
pinene." 
