Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
Jan.  1876.  j 
Researches  upon  Buchu. 
l9 
Some  time  since,  having  occasion  to  distill  off  the  remaining  alcohol 
from  a  partially  exhausted  lot  of  buchu,  I  obtained  in  the  last  runnings 
of  the  still  a  quantity  of  oil  of  buchu,  in  all,  about  twelve  ounces^ 
and,  upon  examining  it  in  various  ways,  I  found  that  upon  treatment  with 
strong  liquor  sodae,  nearly  one-half  of  the  oil  dissolved  to  a  clear  solu- 
tion ;  this  solution  was  separated  from  the  oil  unacted  upon,  and  then 
neutralized  by  hydrochloric  acid,  which  caused  the  separation  of  a 
white  solid  crystalline  mass  ;  this  was  thrown  into  a  beaker  glass  and 
washed  with  water,  then  dissolved  in  boiling  water,  and  set  aside  for 
results.  Upon  examining  the  same  some  time  afterwards,  I  found 
that  the  whole  had  assumed  a  highly  crystalline  state,  was  colorless, 
and  resembled  salicylic  acid  in  form;  and  upon  examining  them  furthur, 
found  that  they  were  in  fact  that  acid,  and  gave  all  the  reactions  for 
that  substance,  and  with  ferric  chloride  gave  the  beautiful  color  reaction, 
a  deep  purplish  red.  I  was  very  much  astonished  at  the  result  of  my 
examination,  and  read  a  paper  upon  the  same  at  a  college  meeting  some 
six  months  ago,  and  should  have  published  the  same  then,  but  wished 
to  verify  the  above  by  further  experiments,  and  since  then  have  made 
several  examinations,  but  not  with  the  same  results. 
My  next  experiment  was  to  distill  with  water  20  pounds  of  buchu  ; 
(in  all  these  experiments  the  short  variety  was  used)  the  oil  collected 
and  treated  with  soda  as  in  the  former  experiment.  I  found  that  the 
oil  obtained  from  this  lot  did  not  dissolve,  or  lose  the  same  volume 
that  the  former  did,  but  that  a  part  formed  a  clear  solution,  which,  upon 
being  separated  and  neutralized  with  hydrochloric  acid,  became  milky 
turbid  in  appearance  ;  this  was  set  aside  over  night,  and  in  the  morning 
the  same  was  found  almost  transparent,  and  filled  with  a  mass  of  long 
needle-shaped  crystals — these  were  separated  by  filtration,  washed  with 
cold  water,  and  suffered  to  dry  on  the  filter — they  were  tested  in  solu- 
tion in  water,  with  negative  results,  except  with  nit.  silver  and  ferric 
chloride  ;  that  of  the  ferric  chloride  was  very  marked  and  decided;  upon 
addition  of  this  reagent  to  the  colorless  solution  it  caused  an  intense 
blueish  black  color  even  in  very  dilute  solutions,  as  decided  as  that  of 
salicylic  acid  with  this  reagent,  but  of  a  different  color. 
Failing  in  this  experiment  to  obtain  the  same  results  as  in  the  former, 
and  thinking  over  the  matter,  thought  that  probably  the  alcohol  might 
have  caused  some  change  in  the  former  ;  a  quantity  of  fluid  extract  of 
buchu,  about  six  pints,  was  distilled  with  the  addition  of  water.  I 
obtained  only  a  small  quantity  of  oil,  which,  in  every  respect,  gave  the 
