552 
Salol. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Nov.,  1886. 
A  sample  of  essence  so  prepared  and  a  sample  of  soap  perfumed  with 
it  are  shown.  The  musk  odor  is  there,  but  still  a  trace  of  the  rancidity 
remains,  and  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  remedy  is  chiefly  in  the  hands 
of  the  trappers  of  the  animal  or  the  collectors  of  the  pods.  The  musk 
odor  is,  I  believe,  a  distinct  secretion,  and  when  quite  fresh  much  of 
the  oil  could  be  removed  without  materially  impoverishing  the  per- 
fume value  of  the  follicles ;  thus  more  care  could  be  expended  on 
their  preservation,  so  as  to  avoid  this  strong,  rancid,  greasy  odor,  for, 
until  this  is  done,  the  American  variety  is  not  likely  to  make  much 
way  against  genuine  Tonquin  musk. — Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  Oct.  2r 
1886,  p.  282. 
SALOL :  A  NEW  ANTISEPTIC. 
By  John  Moss,  F.  I.  C,  F.  C  S. 
Read  before  the  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference. 
A  few  notes  on  a  new  antiseptic  of  promise  will  no  doubt  interest 
the  members  of  the  Conference. 
Our  information  on  salol  is  derived  chiefly  from  La  Semaine 
Medicate,  April  14th,  1886,  which  reports  a  meeting  of  the  Medico- 
Pharmaceutical  District  Society  of  Berne,  held  in  that  city  on  the 
sixth  of  the  same  month.  M.  Sahli  introduced  salol  as  a  new  anti- 
rheumatic and  antiseptic  produced  by  Professor  von  Nencki,  and  as 
possessing  certain  very  decided  advantages  over  other  bodies  having 
allied  therapeutic  characters. 
It  is  perhaps  hardly  correct  to  speak  of  salol  as  a  new  antiseptic. 
It  is  rather  an  association,  a  combination  indeed,  in  which  are  con- 
cerned two  well-known  antiseptics,  salicylic  acid  and  phenol.  It  is 
somewhat  startling  to  be  told  that  phenol  is  an  ether  which  is  playing 
the  role  of  a  base,  and  that  the  compound  is  salicylate  of  phenol.  We 
should  be  disposed  to  assume  that  M.  Sahli's  remarks  on  these  points 
are  misreported,  and  that  salicylate  of  phenyl  was  intended,  were  it 
not  that  the  word  salol  is  evidently  compounded  of  the  initial  and 
terminal  letters  of  the  former  title. 
Salol  is  a  white  crystalline  coarse  powder,  rather  like  damp  table 
salt.  The  odor  is  very  marked,  and  is  identical  with  that  of  oil  of 
wintergreen,  which  is  chiefly  salicylate  of  methyl  (CH3C7H503).  When 
taken  into  the  mouth,  a  fainter  impression  of  the  smell  is  received  on 
the  palate,  and  the  taste  of  carbolic  acid  is  just  suggested.    It  is  very 
