Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
Sept.,  1879.  J 
Oil  of  Gaultheria. 
441 
wanting,  and  would  gradually  increase  with  the  age  of  the  still.  This 
decrease  in  yield  could  hardly  be  ascribed  to  the  plant  giving  a  greater 
quantity  of  oil  at  one  season  of  the  year  than  at  another,  as  the  stills 
were  renewed  at  different  times  in  the  year,  and  always  with  the  same 
result.  The  most  probable  conclusion  is  that  the  oil  acts  on  the  metal 
at  the  temperature  used  in  distilling,  and  forms  the  deposit  referred  to 
as  collecting  in  the  oil.  I  Could  not  ascertain  if  other  manufacturers 
using  copper  stills  had  noticed  the  same  corroding  effect,  but  as  the 
average  yield  with  all  seemed  to  be  about  the  same,  should  think  it 
very  probable.  This  same  party  used  also  a  false  bottom  in  his  still, 
supporting  the  leaves  over  a  small  quantity  of  water,  merely  the  steam 
passing  through  the  leaves.  He  found  this  arrangement  to  give  better 
results.  There  was  an  arrangement  by  which  the  overflowing  water 
from  the  receiving  tub  was  returned  directly  and  continuously  to  the 
still,  thus  retaining  the  water  there  at  a  constant  level. 
The  oil  as  thus  obtained  has  the  specific  gravity  1*17,  and  is  of  a 
pale  red  to  a  deep  brown  color,  and  by  most  manufacturers  is  thus  sent 
into  the  market,  packed  in  tin  cans  of  various  shapes  and  sizes.  One 
party  uses  animal  charcoal,  obtaining  a  product  entirely  colorless.  He 
tried  redistilling  the  oil  with  water  and  a  small  quantity  of  fixed  oil,  but 
did  not  get  a  satisfactory  result ;  then  he  tried  filtering  through  animal 
charcoal  and  was  still  unsatisfied.  Then  he  adopted  the  plan  of  mace- 
rating the  charcoal  with  the  oil  for  several  days  and  then  filtering  off 
the  oil,  which  is  thus  well  decolorized.  The  filter  and  charcoal  are 
returned  to  the  still  with  the  next  lot  of  leaves,  thus  losing  no  oil. 
The  leaves  are  gathered  principally  by  women  and  children.  The 
price  paid  vayes  with  the  locality  and  abundance  of  the  plants,  seldom 
going  below  $1.00  or  over  $1.75  per  one  hundred  pounds.  To 
gather  fifty  pounds  of  leaves  is  considered  a  good  day's  work.  The 
average  is  less,  being  nearer  twenty-five  or  thirty  pounds.  The  wages 
earned  are  small,  but  the  entire  family  will  turn  out  in  the  morning,  so 
that  by  evening  they  will  have  collected  a  good  quantity.  The  people, 
though,  are  apt  to  be  indolent,  and  the  manufacturer  often  finds  himself 
without  the  material  to  operate  on,  and  so  earns  rather  a  precarious  liv- 
ing. None,  so  far  as  I  know,  have  ever  grown  rich  at  the  business, 
and  the  decline  in  the  price  of  the  oil  in  the  market  of  late  years  has 
still  further  reduced  their  profit. 
