462 THE GHEMISTEY OF ESSENTIAL OILS
known as Palo santo (holy wood) to the natives. It appears to be indi-
genous to Argentine and Paraguay, and is especially plentiful along the
course of the river Eio Bermejo, a tributary of the Eio Paraguay. The
wood yields from 4 to 8 per cent, of essential oil, which is practically solid
at ordinary temperatures. This oil has an exceedingly delicate tea odour,
and is well suited both for soap perfumery and for blending with stronger
perfumes for ordinary scents. The oil, which is of a hard semi-solid con-
sistency, has the following characters:—
Specific gravity 0-965 to 0975 at 30°
Optical rotation. - 3° to - 8°
Refractive index 15030 to 1-5050 at 30°
Acid value 0 to 2
Ester „ 0 „ 5
,, „ (after acetylation) .... 100 „ 150
The oil is soluble in 3 to 5 volumes of 70 per cent, alcohol. It melts
at from 42° to 50°.
The only constituent yet ascertained has been examined by Wallach
and Tuttle.
1
It is a crystalline alcohol of the formula C 15 H 26 O, which is
termed guaiol. This body is identical with that found by Merck and
named by him champacol, believing that the wood was really champaca
wood. Guaiol melts at 91°, boils at 288° under ordinary pressure, and at
155° under a pressure of 13 mm., and is laevo-rotatory. By heating it
with zinc chloride it yields a blue oil, of specific gravity *910 at 20°, and
which appears to be a sesquiterpene. An acetate of the alcohol has been
prepared, which boils at 155° under a pressure of 10 mm. In addition to
its legitimate use as a perfume, it is sometimes used as an adulterant of
otto of roses. It is usually mixed with geranium oil, so as to have the
same congealing-point as otto of roses, and is then used under the name
" essence de la gai'ac & la geranium ".
ANACARDIACE/E,
OIL OF MASTIC.The resin from Pistacia lentiscus, the mastic tree, an inhabitant of
Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Levant, which is known as
mastic, consists of a mixture of resins and resinoids, with about 1 to 3 per- cent, of volatile oil. This oil, which has a characteristic, pleasant odour,
has the following characters:—
Specific gravity..^ 0850 to 0'903
Optical rotation.. '-f+ 22° „ + 35°
Refractive index 14680 „ 1*4760
Acid value 0 „ 5
Ester „ 3 „ 19
The oil contains d-pinene as its principal constituent, with a small
amount of fc-a-pinene.
OIL OF CHIAN TURPENTINE.
This oil is the product of distillation with water, of Chian turpentine,
the resin of Pistacia terebinthus, an inhabitant of Syria and the Greek
archipelago. The yield is about 15 per cent, of an oil of the following
characters:—
(^1) Annalen, 279 (1894), 395.