April, I92i. ] U. S. BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY NOTES.

547

business of handling vinegar have been pronounced as fine as the

best grades of their product. T h e color, odor, and taste are prac-
tically the same as those of apple vinegar, no distinguishing char-
acteristic being noted.

OTOBA BUTTER]
By Walter F. Baughman, George S. Jamieson and Dirk H. Brauns.
[ABSTRACX.]
OTOBA BUTTER, the fat expressed f r o m Myristica otoba, has
been used for many years by the South Americans as a medica-
ment for skin diseases of domestic animals. A sample from
Colombia, South America, has recently been investigated in the
Bureau of Chemistry. W h e n received it had a b r o w n color and
a disagreeable odor. It was found to contain 9.3 per cent. of
essential oil (obtained by steam distillation) with the following
characteristics: Specific gravity at 2o°C., o.89o67; specific rota-
tion, [~1 20D' _32; and refractive index at 2o°C., 1.4180. This
essential oil appears to be composed of sesquiterpenes. The
unsaponifiable constituents other than the essential oil which are
present in large amounts are two crystalline isomers, otobite and
iso-otobite. T h e remainder was a very viscous, yellow resin-like
mixture which was not further investigated.
Composition of Unsaponifiable Constituents.

Constituent. Carbon ro Moec- Calculated

]for
. . . . . . ttyd
gen " I Oxygen I weight
u!ar . I. [~]~o
. . . . _
. . Cff H~CrHc~
H nt" O~O

Otobite ""l 74'I° 6"I9 I9.7I 3 I° --35.71 74.°5 6.2I I I974

o-o oUi e j 6o6 f 964 I I÷
These otobites did not give the phytosterol tests. W h e n
brominated, both gave penta-bromides. T h e Zeisel method
showed that otobite contained one m e t h - o x y group, and the iso-
otobite, none.
Chemical and Physical Characteristics of the Fat.
Specific gravity, at 2oO/2o° C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.9293
Refractive index at 4o° C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.47Io
'Published in ]. Am. Chem. Soc., 43 (I92I), I99.
548 U.S. BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY NOTES. [J. F.I.

Iodin number (Hanus) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54.0

Saponification value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I85.o
Melting point (°C.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.0
Essential oil (per cent.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3
Unsaponifiable matter (other than essential oil) (per cent.) .. 20.4
Fatty acids (per cent.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67.6
Chemical Composition of the Fat.
Per cent.
I Laurie acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IS.I
Myristic acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.2
Glycerides of Palmitie acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o.2
Oleic acid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.9
Essential oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3
fOtobite /
UnsaponifiablelIso-otobite I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4
/I Viscous resin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I I.O

Visibility of the Landscape During Rain.--F. W. PRESTON.

(Nature, N o v e m b e r I i , i 9 2 o . ) - - O n a visit to W a l e s the a u t h o r
" w a s i m p r e s s e d w i t h the v a r i a t i o n s in the visibility of the land-
scape w h e n rain w a s falling. I n the l o w e r v a l l e y s a s t o r m w h i c h
m a y be sufficient to w e t thick c l o t h i n g t h r o u g h in a few m o m e n t s
m a y leave the c o n t o u r s of the m o u n t a i n s quite d i s t i n c t at several
miles distance. O n the o t h e r h a n d , a m o u n t a i n drizzle o r ' S c o t c h
m i s t ' m a y r e n d e r e v e r y t h i n g invisible at a few y a r d s . " A s s u m i n g
t h a t the a t m o s p h e r e is p e r f e c t l y t r a n s p a r e n t , t h a t the r a i n - d r o p s
are e n t i r e l y o p a q u e , and t h a t the p h e n o m e n a of the p e r s i s t e n c e of
vision m a y be n e g l e c t e d , a simple t r e a t m e n t of the m a t t e r is pre-
s e n t e d w h i c h leads to the i n t e r e s t i n g r e s u l t t h a t the o b s c u r i n g
p o w e r o f a s t o r m ( t h e r e c i p r o c a l of the m a x i m u m d i s t a n c e at
w h i c h o b j e c t s can be seen t h r o u g h the s t o r m ) is d i r e c t l y p r o p o r -
tional to the n u m b e r of d r o p s falling per s e c o n d on a u n i t area,
a n d in no w a y d e p e n d s on their size. I t is also p r o p o r t i o n a l to
the coefficient v i s c o s i t y of t h e m e d i u m in w h i c h the d r o p s fall a n d
is i n v e r s e l y p r o p o r t i o n a l to the a c c e l e r a t i o n of g r a v i t y . T h u s for
t w o s t o r m s e x a c t l y alike in all respects, e x c e p t t h a t mae w a s at the
e q u a t o r a n d the o t h e r at the pole, the o b s c u r i n g p o w e r w o u l d be
g r e a t e r at the f o r m e r place, b e c a u s e t h e r e the a c c e l e r a t i o n due to
g r a v i t y is less. O b j e c t s could be seen at a g r e a t e r d i s t a n c e
t h r o u g h the p o l a r s t o r m . T h e difference b e t w e e n the o b s c u r i n g
p o w e r s of a S c o t c h m i s t a n d of a h e a v y rain d e p e n d s u p o n the
v a s t l y g r e a t e r n u m b e r of m i s t d r o p l e t s s i n k i n g a c r o s s a g i v e n
h o r i z o n t a l line in a s e c o n d t h a n is the case w i t h the rain. T h e
a u t h o r c a l c u l a t e s t h a t u n d e r his a s s u m p t i o n s a n d t a k i n g a rainfall
c o n s i s t i n g of d r o p s one ram. in d i a m e t e r a n d a m o u n t i n g to one
cm. per h o u r , the l a n d s c a p e w o u l d be b l o t t e d o u t at a d i s t a n c e of
seven kin., or 4.5 miles f r o m the observer. G.F.S.