Having occasion to use a little of the officinal oil of wine, I applied to one of our wholesale Druggists, who furnished me with an article, which I found to be useless. On testing a sample, it mixed with water and produced a slight milkiness. It was evidently alcohol, containing a trace only of oil. The price of this was $4 per pound.
Samples were then obtained from all of the wholesale Druggists from whom it could be procured, and each of these was proved to be equally worthless, as the results of the following tests will show.
The second sample, when agitated with water, separated into two portions, one of which was aqueous and the other ethereal. The latter exposed to the air, to separate the ether by spontaneous evaporation, left a residue which was completely soluble in water, and proved to be alcohol. The price of this mixture of alcohol and ether was $4,50 per pound.
The third sample when agitated with water, became slightly turbid, and was dissolved. It had a pale yellow color, ethereal odor, and the sp. gr. was .909. A portion of it, exposed twelve hours to spontaneous evaporation in a graduated measure, lost one-eighth of its bulk, and on the application of a taper, burned with a blue flame. It is quite evident that this also was alcohol with a small portion of ether, and a trace of oil. The price {66} of this was $4,50 per pound, and it was labelled “Ol. Aetherii.” It bore also the name of the importers.
The fourth sample, when agitated with water, became slightly turbid, and dissolved. It was colorless, had an ethereal odor, and the sp. gr. was .844. This also burned with a blue flame. The price of this worthless article was $6,50 per pound. It was labelled “Ol. Vini Pur,” and bore also the name of the London manufacturer.
It may be well to remark, that the officinal oil of wine, when agitated with water, separates and falls to the bottom, being heavier than water, whence its name. The sp. gr. of the pure oil is not less than 1.05, and it has a yellow color.
The labels on the third and fourth samples above mentioned, are alone not sufficient evidence to prove that they were imported, but, in addition to the label, I was informed that one of them was recently imported, and also that the manufacturing Chemists in this country do not make or sell the oil of wine.—In view of this statement (if true) the question naturally arises: How did the above worthless articles pass the Custom House under the existing law for “the prevention of the importation of spurious and adulterated drugs?”
I have examined another sample which is not offered for sale as oil of wine, but as it has properties resembling more nearly the officinal oil than either of the four samples above mentioned, it might possibly be confounded with the oil of wine. This sample had an agreeable vinous odor, and a yellow color.—When agitated with water a considerable quantity of oil separated, which was lighter than water. A portion of the original oil, distilled in a glass retort with a thermometer passed through a cork, inserted into the tubulare, gave about half its bulk of a colorless liquid below 180º F., which proved to be alcohol containing a small quantity of acetic ether and œnanthic ether.—The residue left in the retort had the properties of a mixture of œnanthic ether and œnanthic acid. The above article has been, extensively used (in connection with acetic ether) for the {67} manufacture of factitious brandy, and is sold for about $1,50 per ounce.
After having tested samples of all the different articles offered for sale under the name of “oil of wine” by the wholesale Druggists in New York, without being able to find either of them worthy of the name, I prepared a little for my own use, by the following process, which is that of the London Pharmacopœia:
2 lbs. oil of vitriol were carefully mixed with 1 lb. commercial alcohol, and distilled very slowly in a glass retort. The product consisted of two portions, the lightest of which was an ethereal solution of oil of wine measuring 6 oz. This was exposed to the air for twenty-four hours to remove the ether by spontaneous evaporation. The residue, washed with a little dilute solution of potash and dried, was pure “Heavy Oil of Wine,” and weighed half an ounce. The quantity obtained, though small, corresponds exactly with the proportion obtained by Hennell at the Apothecaries’ Hall, London, viz: 17 oz. oil of wine from 34 lbs. alcohol, and 68 lbs. oil of vitriol.