Oil of Am′ber. Syn. Oleum succini, L. From coarse pieces of amber, distilled in an iron retort, either alone or reduced to powder and mixed with sand. The oil is separated from the fetid liquor and succinic acid which passes over, and rectified along with about 6 times its volume of water, by a gentle heat. It then forms ‘RECTIFIED OIL OF AMBER’ (OLEUM SUCCINI—Ph. L. 1836, O. S. RECTIFICATUM—Ph. D. 1826,
O. S. PURISSIMUM—Ph. E. 1841). Prod. 20%.
Prop., &c. It has a pale yellow colour, a strong, ungrateful odour, and a hot, acrid taste; heat and air blacken and thicken it; it boils at 186° Fahr. Sp. gr. ·758 at 75° Fahr. It is antispasmodic, rubefacient, and stimulant.—Dose, 5 to 12 drops, made into an emulsion with mucilage; in hysteria, epilepsy, and convulsive affections. Externally, as a friction, either alone or combined with laudanum or sweet oil, in rheumatism, tic douloureux, hooping-cough, &c.
Oil of Amber, Oxydated (Artificial Musk). Pat into a cup 1 dr. of oil of amber, and add to it, drop by drop, 31⁄2 fl. dr. of strong nitric acid; let it stand for 36 hours, then separate and wash the resinous matter. Antispasmodic and nervine.—Dose, 5 to 10 gr. For children, 1⁄2 gr. to 1 gr.
Oil, An′imal. 1. (Empyreumatic or Fetid; Oil of hartshorn, Dippel’s o.; Oleum animale empyreumaticum, O. cornu cervi, O. Dippelii, L.) Chiefly obtained as a secondary product in the manufacture of bone-black. Fetid and dark coloured. Used chiefly to make lampblack.
2. (Ethereal; Rectified oil of hartshorn; Oleum animale æstherium, O. cornu cervi rectificatum, Loco olei animalis Dippelii, L.)—a. A finer kind of animal oil, made by slowly distilling oil of hartshorn, and collecting only the first portion that comes over. Pale and limpid. Exposure to light discolours it.
b. (Ph. Bor.) Fetid animal oil distilled in a sand bath, and the product rectified with four times its volume of water. White, limpid, fragrant. Light discolours it.
Prop. The refined product is said to be antispasmodic, anodyne, and diaphoretic.—Dose, 5 to 30 drops, in water; in large doses it acts as an irritant poison.
Oil of Birch. Syn. Oleum betulæ, L. From the inner bark of the birch, by heating it in an earthen pot with a hole in the bottom, to allow the oil to flow through into another jar sunk in the ground and luted to it. Thick, balsamic, fragrant. Used chiefly to dress russia leather.
Oil of Box-wood. Syn. Oleum buxi, O. b. empyreumaticum (Ph. L. 1746), L. From box-wood sawdust. Reputed resolvent; anodyne, antispasmodic, and diaphoretic.—Dose, 5 to 20 drops; in convulsions, epilepsy, gonorrhœa, &c. Externally, in toothache, &c.