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AN  ESSAY  ON  SASSAFRAS  OFFICINALE.  491 
Volatile  Oil. — Oil  of  sassafras  varies  in  color  from  colorless 
to  yellow  and  red.  The  New  Jersey  oil  is  generally  light-colored 
and  often  colorless  when  recent,  and  often  has  water  adherent 
to  its  surface  from  not  having  been  filtered.  The  Pennsylvania 
and  Maryland  oil,  as  has  been  said,  is  red,  yellow  and  white  or 
colorless.  Its  taste  is  pungent  and  aromatic,  being  agreeable 
to  most  persons.  Its  specific  gravity  varies  from  1-087  to  1*094, 
increasing  somewhat  by  age,  although  by  no  means  so  easily 
affected  as  the  oils  of  the  orange  or  mint  tribes.  It  is  neutral 
to  test  paper,  yet,  according  to  E.  S.  Wayne,  it  acted  on  lead  in 
the  solder  of  a  copper  can,  forming  an  insoluble  compound. 
Mr.  Wayne  did  not  investigate  the  circumstances  under  which 
this  supposed  compound  was  formed,  nor  whether  the  organic 
portion  of  the  compound  was  oil  of  sassafras  or  a  derivative  of 
it.  According  to  St.  Evre,  it  begins  to  boil  at  239°  F.,  then 
the  boiling  point  rises  to  440°  F.  In  my  own  trial  there  was 
no  preliminary  ebullition,  but  long  before  boiling  commenced 
the  oil  evaporated  in  great  clouds  of  vapor.  When  the  mercury 
approached  430°  F.,  ebullition  commenced  pretty  freely.  Its 
frequent  adulteration  in  Europe  with  oil  of  lavender,  and  per- 
haps turpentine,  will  account  for  the  low  boiling  point  of  other 
observers.  Its  composition  is  C18H10O4  (St.  Evre).  When  pure 
oil  of  sassafras  is  cooled  by  a  freezing  mixture,  it  deposits  sassa- 
fras camphor,  a  crystalline  stearoptene,  which  may  be  obtained 
by  pressing  the  cooled  oil  in  bibulous  paper.  Its  specific  grav- 
ity is  1*245.  This  body  has  the  composition  C20H10O4,  contain- 
ing two  equivalents  more  of  carbon  than  the  oil.  It  does  not 
appear  to  be  a  derivative  of  the  oil  by  oxidation.  Oil  of  sassa- 
fras is  rapidly  oxidized  by  NO5  with  the  emission  of  flame,  and 
S03,HO  resinifies  it,  producing  a  deep  red  compound  called 
sassarubrin  by  Dr.  Hare.  Chlorine  and  bromine  both  unite  with  it 
without  disorganizing  its  constituents,  the  latter  making  a  crys- 
talline compound.  Gaseous  chlorine  develops  a  compound  hav- 
ing the  composition  of  ordinary  camphor. 
Oil  of  sassafras  is  readily  soluble  in  alcohol,  ether,  chloro- 
form, and  mixes  with  other  fixed  and  volatile  oils.  Like  oil  of 
camphor,  it  is  very  penetrating  and  stimulating,  being  well 
