280  Australian  Sandalwood  Oil.        j  AmApXi92iarm" 
alcohols  present  in  the  oil  had  not  suffered  appreciable  decomposi- 
tion by  distillation  with  steam.  The  oil  obtained  by  the  removal  of 
a  20  per  cent,  fraction  had  a  higher  specific  gravity  and  contained 
a  larger  percentage  of  total  alcohols  than  the  original  oil,  but  these 
constants  were  not  sufficiently  high  to  met  the  Pharmacopoeial 
requirements  for  the  official  oil.  The  report,  however,  states  that 
it  seems  possible  for  an  oil  to  be  obtained  by  steam  distillation 
which  would  conform  to  all  the  official  tests  except  that  of  optical 
rotation.  Although  20  per  cent,  was  not,  on  this  occasion,  a  suf- 
ficiently large  fraction  to  bring  about  this  result,  on  a  larger  scale 
more  perfect  fractionation  could  be  obtained  with  steam  distillation, 
and  it  should  not  be  necessary  to  remove  more  than  20  per  cent, 
of  the  oil.  A  similar  result,  it  is  stated,  could  probably  be  obtained 
by  rejecting  a  first  fraction  during  the  original  distillation  of  the 
wood.  The  obvious  disadvantage  is,  of  course,  if  no  market  could 
be  found  for  the  fraction,  the  loss  of  this  quantity  might  render 
the  distillation  of  the  oil  unprofitable.  In  determining  the  nature 
of  the  alcohols  Chapman's  oxidation  method,  involving  the  use  of 
potassium  permanganate,  was  followed.  By  this  process  a  crystal- 
line acid  is  obtained  described  as  santalenic  acid.  But,  while  the 
oil  from  S  ant  alum  album  yielded  24  per  cent.,  the  West  Australian 
oil  yielded  only  3  per  cent.  Chapman  obtained  an  average  of-  20 
per  cent,  santalenic  acid  from  East  Indian  sandalwood  oil.  This 
experiment  gives  a  strong  indication  that  the  West  Australian  oil 
contains  some  santalol,  but  the  smallness  of  the  yield  indicates 
that  the  proportion  is  much  less  than  that  of  the  official  oil,  and 
suggests  the  presence  of  some  other  alcohol  or  alcohols.  It  seems 
unlikely,  in  view  of  the  present  report,  that  the  idea  of  the  West 
Australian  authorities  to  have  the  oil  included  in  the  B.  P.  will 
be  realized,  for  conclusive  evidence  of  therapeutic  value,  in  so 
sparsely  a  populated  country  as  West  Australia,  is  not  likeiy  readily 
to  be  forthcoming.  Nevertheless,  the  report  is  of  value  in  estab- 
lishing a  definite  relationship  between  the  East  Indian  and  Western 
Australian  sandalwood  oils,  so  that  distillers,  importers,  and  con- 
sumers may  know  the  actual  shortcomings  of  the  cheaper  oil  in 
regard  to  their  particular  branch  of  industry. 
