VOLATILE OIL OP GAULTHERIA PROCUMBEN8. 
213 
tensively used by the pharmaceutists of this country to flavor 
syrups, etc. Most of the oil used in this city is obtained 
from distillers residing in New Jersey, in which State the 
plant yielding it grows in great abundance. As usually found 
in the shops, it has a more or less intense red color, but when 
recently distilled it is colorless, or nearly so. Its density, as 
the result of several careful observations, is 1.173, and its 
boiling point 412°, Fahr,; the mercury remaining stationary 
at that point. Its taste is burning and aromatic ; it is slightly 
soluble in water, to which it communicates its odor and 
taste; and it mixes with alcohol and ether in all proportions. 
An aqueous solution of the oil is colored purple by the 
persalts of iron. 
Dropped into a concentrated solution of potassa or soda, 
the oil is instantly solidified, becomes white, and separates 
from the alkaline solution while heat is disengaged. 
Oil of gaultheria decomposes the carbonates of potassa and 
soda gradually without heat; but if gently warmed, the evo- 
lution of carbonic acid is evident. 
Chlorine and bromine, when brought into contact with oil 
of gaultheria, combine with it; the mixture becomes very 
hot, and hydrochloric and hydrobromic acids are evolved. 
Iodine is dissolved by the oil forming a deep red solution, 
without combining with it, as heat dissipates the iodine with- 
out the production of any hydriodic acid. 
Nitric acid of density 1.40, assisted by heat, converts oil 
of gaultheria into a crystalline substance having acid proper- 
ties, whilst nitrous acid fumes are evolved. If fuming nitric 
acid be employed, the reaction is violent, without the assist- 
ance of heat, and a different product is obtained. 
When oil of gaultheria is added to concentrated sulphuric 
acid the latter becomes slightly colored, and if heated, the 
odor of the oil is destroyed. 
When oil of gaultheria is distilled with solution of potassa 
in excess, the distilled liquid has neither the odor nor taste 
of the oil, and consequently its constitution differs from that 
of the oil of Spiraea ulmaria, which, under the same circum- 
