OBSERVATIONS ON MONARDIN, 
89 
any, action on this substance, either cold or hot ; when it is treat- 
ed with cold, strongnitric acid, it is rapidly decomposed with the 
evolution of much deutoxide of nitrogen and the production 
of heat — after the action ceases, a thick yellowish brown 
mass remains, without any appearance of crystallization. 
Having obtained a bottle of ol. monardse, in which the mo- 
nardin was in process of being deposited in crystals, the latter 
were separated from the super stratum of oil, and were found 
to possess the same properties as the other specimens previ- 
ously examined. When this oil was subjected for some time 
to a temperature of 18° Fahr. a considerable quantity of si- 
milar crystals of monardin were deposited. The oil thus rid 
of most of the monardin was placed in an atmosphere of 
oxygen with the view T of ascertaining if this principle was the 
result of the action of atmospheric oxygen upon it ; but after 
forty-eight hours exposure, no evidence was obtained of the 
formation of that substance, although the experiment was not 
continued sufficiently long to settle the question. 
The particular circumstances favorable to the formation 
of monardin, and its separation from oil of horsemint is as 
yet quite obscure. I have known this volatile oil to be 
kept for many years without any evidence of a deposit, 
while in another, and a recent instance, about a quart of 
the oil was taken from a large bottle in which no change had 
occurred, and in a few hours after, a crystalline deposi- 
tion had taken place in the portion removed weighing se- 
veral ounces. In all the instances where this deposit has 
taken place, the source of the oil was undoubted, having been 
obtained from the distillers in New Jersey. A careful, ulti- 
mate analysis of the oil, and of the deposit^ would do much 
to throw light on this subject. 
