710
ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.
actually dene, as Mr. Flockton informs me. The British Colleges, ho"'ever, direct it to he purified by distillation with water only. In the Lon-don and Edinburgh Pharmacopoeias, four times—in the Dublin 01 ’1'twice—its volume of water are ordered to he employed. Purified , or, as 1is termed, rectified oil of turpentine (oleum terebinthina purificatum, L. I v ’oleum terebinthina rectificatum, D.) is employed for burning in A at "wicked lamps, under the name of lamp naphtha.
Properties. —Pure oil of turpentine is a colourless, limpid, veryflammable fluid. It has a peculiar, and, to most persons, disagreealnodour, and a hot taste. Its sp. gr. is 0'86 at about 70° F. It boils aabout 314° F.; the density of its vapour is 4'76 (Dumas). When cook-down to 1° 4 F. it deposits crystals (stearoptene ?). It is very slight 1 )soluble in hydrated alcohol. Exposed to the air, it absorbs oxyg e . !l ’becomes yellowish, and somewhat denser, owing to the formation of rey 11 *(pinic and sylvic acids). Crystals ( hexahydrate of oil of turpentin Isometimes form in old hydrous oil of turpentine. By submitting ^distillation a mixture of water and old oil, an aqueous liquid is 0tained, which yields more or less of the same crystals.
Oil of turpentine is composed of
Eq. Eq. wts. Per cent-
C'arlion.10.f>0.88-23
Hydrogen . 8. 8. 11-7(5
68.. 99-90
, of
It yields two or more distinct, but probably isomeric oils. Onethese ( dadyl , Blancliet and Sell) forms with hydrochloric acid a cry s “ _line compound ( artificial camphor; hydrochlorate of oil of turpentinanother ( peucyl , Blanchet and Sell) forms with the same acid a lhp 1 *compound. But as the boiling points of the two oils, called by Bla»c ^and Sell, dadyl and peucyl, are higher than the boiling point of the o i ^turpentine, these substances ought rather to be regarded as prod" cthan educts. j l6
Physiological Effects, (a.) On vegetables .—Plants exposed tovapour of this oil are rapidly destroyed (Decandolle, Phys. Veg. p- ^ ^(b.) On animals. —On both vertebrated and invertebrated animalsoperates as a poison. Injected into the veins of horses and dog®^,excites pneumonia (Ilertwich, and Gaspard; quoted by Wibmer, P *. .d. Arzn. u. Gifte. Bd. iv. p. 212). Two drachms thrown into the ve *of a horse, caused trembling, reeling, falling, inclination to passand stools, and frequent micturition. Inflammatory fever, with c ° l *j!,ycontinued to the 8th day ; then putrid fever appeared. On the Otbdeatii took place. The body presented all the signs of putrid feverpneumonia (Ilertwich). Scliubarth (Wibmer, op. cit.) found thatdrachms of the rectified oil, given to a dog, caused tetanus, failure o ^pulse and breathing, and death in three minutes. The skin of the h ^is very sensible to the influence of oil of turpentine, which P r , L,».-acute pain. “ It is a remarkable circumstance,” says Moiroud f a „yVeter, p. 314), “that this pain is not ordinarily accompanied j u r;rconsiderable hyperaunia. It is quickly produced, but is of short ation.” Oil of turpentine is sometimes employed by veterinarians tblister, but it is inferior to cantharides, and, if frequently appli e< f> lS ofto blemish (i. e. to cause the hair of the part to fall off). In n ose