262 
Oil  of  Sandal  Wood. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I        May,  1886. 
tant  to  determine  the  quantity  of  the  former  that  could  be  added  to 
sandal  wood  oil  without  being  readily  detected  by  the  difference  in 
specific  gravity.  Mr.  Ince  kindly  made  some  experiments  for  me 
with  this  end  in  view.  These  were  conducted  in  a  room,  the  tem- 
perature of  which  was  65°  F. 
The  addition  of  10  per  cent,  of  cedar  oil  was  found  to  lower  the 
specific  gravity  of  the  oil  from  the  India  Museum  to  *9789,  or  rather 
higher  than  the  average  specific  gravity  of  the  '*  East  Indian  "  oil  of 
commerce. 
In  order  to  see  if  this  quantity  of  adulteration  could  be  detected  by 
the  greater  or  less  solubility  of  the  oil  in  alcohol,  some  experiments 
were  made  on  the  solubility  of  the  various  oils  with  alcohol  of  differ- 
ent strengths.  From  these  experiments  it  results  that  cedar  wood  oil 
forms  a  white  cloudy  mixture  with  its  own  volume  of  methylated 
alcohol  of  specific  gravity  *839,  while  No.  1  (see  table)  is  perfectly 
soluble ;  but  one  volume  of  an  equal  mixture  of  sandal  wood  oil  and 
cedar  oil  under  the  same  condition  dissolves  perfectly. 
It  being  thus  evident  that  sandal  wood  oil  might  be  adulterated 
with  half  its  volume  of  cedar  oil  without  being  detected  by  the  use 
of  spirit  of  this  strength,  proof  spirit  was  next  tried,  but  neither  oil 
being  perfectly  soluble  in  it,  a  mixture  of  one  part  of  proof  spirit 
and  three  of  rectified  spirit  was  used.  This  had  a  specific  gravity 
of  *920.    With  this  solvent  the  following  results  were  obtained : — 
Nos.  1  and  3  dissolved  in  an  equal  volume  of  it.  Of  the  oil  from 
the  India  Museum  and  Xo.  6,  one  c.  c.  required  1*1  c.c.  to  dissolve  it 
Of  No.  4,  one  c.c.  required  1*3  c.c.  of  the  solvent. 
One  c.c.  of  oil  of  cedar  required  5  c.c.  for  solution,  but  10  per 
cent,  of  the  latter  oil  added  to  the  India  Museum  oil  increased  its  in- 
solubility very  slightly,  1  per  cent,  requiring  only  1*3  c.c.  of  the  sol- 
vent. 
Conclusions. — From  the  above  facts  it  appears  that  whilst  oil  of 
cedar  may  be  recognized  by  its  insolubility  in  an  equal  volume  of 
alcohol  of  specific  gravity  *920,  its  admixture  with  sandal  wood  oil  to 
the  extent  of  10  per  cent,  cannot  be  easily  detected. 
It  is  quite  possible  that  the  higher  specific  gravity  and  less  solubil- 
ity of  the  oil  from  the  India  Museum  may  be  due  to  an  admixture1 
1  Tested  for  sesame  and  cotton  seed  oils  negative  results  were  obtained.  But 
the  greater  insolubility  of  the  Indian  oil  and  higher  specific  gravity  indicates 
the  probability  of  fixed  oil  being  present  in  it. 
