Oleum Herbae Juniperi Sablnae. Edin. Oleum Foliorum Sabinae, Dub. Oil of Savine

1 Baume 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid.

Syn. Huile essentiale de Sabine (F.), Sevenbaumohl (G.), Olio di Sabina (I.), Azeyte de Enebrio Sabina (S.).

Two pounds of savine are said to yield five ounces of oil.1 It is limpid, has the odour of the plant, and is extremely acrid to the taste. Its colour is yellow; but it becomes nearly colourless on being kept exposed to light.

Medical properties and uses, - This oil is the principle on which the virtues of savine depend; thence it possesses the same properties, and is applicable to the same purposes as the plant. The dose is from ij. to vij., triturated with sugar.

Oleum Sambuci

Lond. Oil of elder flowers. This is an oil which might have been left out of the Pharmacopoeia.

Oleum Succini. Lond. Oil of Amber

"Put the amber into an alembic, so that an acid liquor, the oil, and a salt impregnated with the oil, may distil them in a sand bath, with a fire gradually raised: then redistil the oil a second and a third time."

Oleum Succini, Edin. Oil of Amber.

"Take of amber in powder and of pure sand, equal parts. Mix them together in a glass retort, the capacity of which the mixture only half fills; and having adapted to it a large receiver, distil in a sand bath, with a gradually augmented heat. An aqueous fluid, tinged with a little yellow oil, will first come over; then a yellow oil, with an acid salt, and, lastly, a black and reddish oil. Pour the fluid from the receiver, and separate the oil from the water."

Oleum Succini purissimum, Edin. Pure Oil of Amber,

"Distil the oil of amber, mixed with six times its quantity of water, from a glass retort, until two thirds of the water pass over into the receiver. Then separate this purified volatile oil from the water, and keep it in well-stopped phials."

Oleum Succini rectificatum, Dub. Rectified Oil of Amber.

"Take of the oil which comes over in the preparation of succinic acid, a pound; water, six pints. Distil until two thirds of the water have passed into the receiver; then separate the oil."

Syn. Huile de Succin (F.), Bernsteinbhl (G.), Olio di Succino Rectificato (I.).

The oil of amber, as immediately procured by the distillation of amber, is of a dark colour, a thick consistence, and has a very fetid odour; but by successive distillations it is rendered thinner, of a lighter colour, and at length is obtained nearly limpid, and as fluid as alcohol. It is the result of the process, not pre-existing in the amber. Its spec. grav., at 75°, is .758.

1 Murray.

Qualities. - Rectified oil of amber has a strong ungrateful odour, and a hot, acrid taste. It is light, volatile, and inflammable. It is slowly acted on by heat and air, becoming black and hard. It boils at 186°: imparts its taste and smell to water; but nothing more: is soluble in strong alcohol, and combines with oils.

Medical properties and uses. - Oil of amber is stimulant, antispasmodic, and rubefacient. It has been found serviceable in deficient menstruation, and in hysteria, epilepsy, and some other convulsive affections; but it is now scarcely ever administered as an internal remedy. The dose may be from

v. to xij., combined with any distilled water by means of mucilage. It is more generally employed as a rubefacient in rheumatism and paralysis; and a mixture of f j. of this oil with f ss. of tincture of opium has been found beneficial as a friction in tic doloureux; and in hooping-cough, rubbed on the chest twice or three times a day.1

Officinal preparation. - Spiritus Ammoniae succinatus.