212 VOLATILE OIL OF GAULTHERIA PROCUMBENS. 
observations which follow are intended to throw light on this 
subject. The chemical characteristics of oil of gaultheria 
have been found, in many instances, to accord with those de- 
scribed as peculiar to saliculous acid, yet several instances 
occur to the contrary. They have the same density, and the 
aqueous solution of each colors the persalts of iron purple. 
The compounds which potassa, soda, and oxide of copper form 
with oil of gaultheria, are very like the salts of saliculous acid 
with those bases. 
The action of an excess of caustic potassa with heat pro- 
duces a crystalline body, identical in all its reactions with 
saliculic acid, as described by Piria. 
The compound of oil of gaultheria and potassa, when ex- 
posed to the combined influence of moisture and the atmos- 
phere, undergoes a decomposition similar to that of saliculite 
of potassa. 
The reactions of chlorine and bromine with oil of gaul- 
theria yield compounds similar to those with saliculous acid; 
and nitric acid also produces results of an analogous cha- 
racter. 
On the contrary, the boiling point of oil of gaultheria is 
many degrees higher than that of saliculous acid. Ammonia 
forms a compound with it which differs from saliculite of am- 
monia in not being decomposed by acids with the separation 
of the oil, nor by potassa with the separation of ammonia. 
All endeavors to form the body called saliculimid by Liebig, 
with the process he gives, were ineffectual. The compounds 
of baryta and lead with oil of gaultheria are white, while the 
saliculites of those bases are yellow. But the most striking 
difference between these substances is, that when oil of gaul- 
theria is boiled with solution of potassa, it is not recoverable 
by means of an acid, as saliculous acid is. Under these cir- 
cumstances a crystalline substance is precipitated, which is 
the same acid that results from heating the oil with an excess 
of potassa. 
Oil of Gaultheria Procumbens. — This volatile oil is ex- 
