Ambe?"ri92Larm' }    Medical  and  Pharmaceutical  Notes.  871 
pharmacologically  and  clinically.  This  work  is  being  done  by  Dr. 
Wilson  Smillie,  at  the  Instituto  de  Hygiene,  San  Paulo,  Brazil,  who 
has  already  obtained  a  number  of  interesting  results.  The  authors 
find  that  the  oil  is  essentially  a  mixture  of  from  60  to  70  per  cent, 
of  ascaridole  with  hydrocarbons  and  a  small  quantity  of  the  de- 
composition products  of  ascaridole.  The  hydrocarbons  present  are 
p-cymene,  /-terpinene  and  a  new  terpene.  which  is  probably  a  di- 
hydro-p-cymene,  boiling  at  177-178,  and  yielding  a  well-crystallized 
tetra-bromide  melting  at  1170  C.  It  is  probably  this  tetrabromide,* 
which  was  mistaken  by  Nelson  for  i-limonene  tetrabromide  and  led 
to  his  assumption  that  the  oil  contained  i-limonene.  The  two  are, 
however,  quite  distinct,  the  new  tetrabromide  being  optically  inactive 
though  derived  from  a  laevorotatory  terpene  and  forming  monoclinid 
crystals,  whilst  i-limonene  tetrabromide  is  laevorotatory  and  forms 
rhombic  crystals.  No  evidence  of  the  presence  of  sylvestrene,  saf- 
role,  camphor  or  phelandrene,  all  of  which  have  been  suggested  as 
present  in  the  oil,  could  be  obtained.  Minor  constituents  are  butyric 
acid  and  methyl  salicylate.  In  the  course  of  oxidizing  the  hydro- 
carbon fraction  it  was  found  that  /-terpinene  yields  two  forms  of 
/cf-dihydroxy-  -methyl-/-isopropyladipic  acid  CCOH.  C(A'Ie)OH.- 
*  CH2.  CH2.  C(Pr)OH.  COOH  instead  of  a  single  form  only  as 
stated  by  Wallach  and  that  both  forms  are  optically  inactive. 
The  clinical  results  already  available  show  that  the  constituent 
of  value  for  the  treatment  of  hookworm  is  ascaridole  and  that  the 
hydrocarbon  fraction,  when  pure,  has  no  action  on  hookworm.  The 
products  formed  by  the  decomposition  of  ascaridole  by  heat  are  also 
quite  inactive  in  this  respect. 
Tests  of  Pine  Product  Disinfectants. — The  disinfectant  ac- 
tion, method  of  production,  and  chemical  properties  of  pine- oil  and 
pine-distillate  product  emulsions  are  reported  in  United  States  De- 
partment of  Agriculture  Bulletin  Ne.  989,  by  the  Bureau  of  Chem- 
istry and  the  Insecticide  and  Fungicide  Board,  as  the  result  of  a 
bacteriological  and  chemical  study  of  these  products. 
The  work  was  undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  determining  the 
physical,  chemical  and  disinfectant  properties  of  pine-oil  and  other 
pine-distillation  products,  in  order  to  secure  data  to  assist  in  the 
detection  of  the  adulteration  of  commercial  products  as  well  as  to 
check  up  the  statements  concerning  the  deterioration  of  pine-oil  dis- 
