ON THE AROMA OF THE JONQUIL. 
57 
a crystalline form, resembling that of sal ammoniac. This 
product also was capable of being sublimed without losing its 
colour; when heated in a tube, fumes were developed which 
condensed in small yellow flakes; it is well known that this 
takes place with neither wax or resin. The essential oils of 
lemon, &c. deposit in the vessels in which they are kept, a 
yellow pulverulent substance, which appears to have some 
analogy to this substance. 
I may also state that it is remarkable that the brown oil 
obtained from the alcoholic tincture, had not been taken up by 
the ether, as almost all products of this kind are soluble in this 
vehicle; but I never observed the slightest trace of it in the 
etherial tinctures; it might almost be supposed that it was pro- 
duced under the influence of the alcohol; for after it is once 
procured in a free state, it is very soluble in ether; hence if 
it had pre-existed in the flowers, it must necessarily have been 
taken up by that fluid. It may be, however, that it was con- 
tained in small vesicles, whose substance was insoluble in 
ether, but soluble in alcohol, and hence was protected from 
the action of the former. It is certain, at the same time, that 
the solubility of this oil in ether is so great, that I could not 
make use of this vehicle as a mode of separating it from the 
concrete yellow substance, even without the aid of heat. 
It is owing to the presence of this brown oil that the alco- 
holic tinctures are so dark coloured, for but little of the con- 
crete substance is taken up by this product. The caustic 
alkalies dissolve the brown oil and give it a still darker colour. 
Its smell is widely dissimilar from that of the jonquil; on the 
contrary, it has some analogy to that of fish oil; this odour is 
much increased when the oil is heated. 
To conclude, without adverting to the principles combined 
with the water of vegetation, we here have four distinct pro- 
ducts extracted by simple lixiviation, and without destroying 
the organization of the flowers, and all eliminated in the order 
of their solubility. The odorous oil passes off with the first 
washing with ether, then the concrete, yellow substance, 
accompanied with a little wax, and finally, by the alcoholic 
VOL. II. — no. i. 8 
