3 1 6  Ethereal  Oil  of  California  Bay  Tree.   (^^  jJ^^'xfso""' 
work.  The  leaf  is  in  shape  something  like  the  laurel,  but  lighter  in 
color  and  narrower.  Both  leaf  and  wood  have  a  very  fragrant  aro- 
matic odor,  which,  when  strong,  as  in  the  crushed  leaf,  excites  the 
mucous  surfaces,  brings  tears  to  the  eyes  and  produces  headache. 
The  oil  was  obtained  by  distilling  the  leaves  (which  were  gathered 
in  March,  1879,  when  the  trees  were  in  bloom)  with  steam.  In  the 
neighborhood  of  sixty  or  seventy  pounds  of  the  fresh  leaves  were 
placed  in  a  large  barrel  with  perforated  false  bottom,  and  steam  from  the 
escape  pipe  of  a  steam  boiler  forced  through  the  mass  and  condensed, 
in  order  to  avoid  the  accumulation  of  too  large  an  amount  of  water, 
this  was  siphoned  off  from  the  bottom  of  the  receiving  bottle,  the 
siphon  dipping  into  a  dish  of  water  by  the  side  of  the  bottle,  and  the 
-overflow  of  this  dish  kept  the  water  in  the  bottle  at  a  constant  level. 
At  the  end  of  two  days  there  were  obtained  in  this  way  820  grams  of 
the  oil.  The  oil  as  thus  obtained  is  of  a  clear  yellowish  or  straw 
color,  of  the  peculiar  aromatic  odor  of  the  leaf,  specific  gravity  at  11° 
C  0  94.     By  long  standing  (nearly  a  year)  it  does  not  thicken. 
Subjected  to  fractional  distillation  it  gives  up  a  small  quantity  of  dis- 
solved water,  and  separates  into  two  principal  fractions,  one  boiling  from 
170  to  I9Q°C.  and  the  other  from  210  to  225°,  with  smaller  quantities 
passing  over  as  high  as  260°. 
The  lower  fraction  mentioned  was  subjected  to  repeated  fractional 
distillation,  and  gave  a  considerable  quantity  of  a  clear,  colorless,  mobile 
liquid  boiling  at  167  to  168°,  though  apparently  with  slight  dissociation, 
as  traces  of  water  appeared  in  the  first  portions  of  the  distillate  at  each 
distillation,  which  were  not  to  be  got  rid  of  by  repeated  distillation  and 
removing  the  first  portions  of  each  distillate.  A  portion  of  the  purest 
of  this  substance  from  167  to  i68°C.  was  subjected  to  elementary 
analysis  : 
T  TT  T\T  Calculated  for 
1.  J  I.  Mean.  n   w   xx  r\ 
^20  "32"  2^' 
C  ...  82-91  82-46    '  82-68  82-76 
H  ...  ii'93  11-68  ii*8o  11-72 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  agreement  is  very  close  with  the  composition 
of  a  hydrate  of  turpentine  in  which  one  molecule  of  water  is  combined 
with  two  of  C^^H^g  or  one  of  C20H32. 
This  agrees  with  the  terpinol  of  Wiggers,  investigated  and  named 
by  List,  and  obtained  in  various  ways  from  the  turpentine  dihydrate 
CjQH^g.2H20.  The  boiling  point  of  terpinol  is  given  at  168°,  and  it  is 
a  colorless  liquid  of  pleasant  aromatic  odor.     The  odor  of  the  com- 
