BY R. T. BAKER. 281 



per cent, of the original oil. It was of a dark brown colour and 

 had the odour of cinnamon most markedly. It constitutes the 

 material that gives the slight brownish tinge to the original oil, 

 because when it was removed the oil was yellowish to greenish. 

 The oil contains therefore less than 2 per cent, of cinnumic 

 aldehyde. 



None of the terpenes of low boiling point are present, nor 

 could phellandrene be detected. A distinct reaction for cineol 

 was obtained with iodol. 



This oil, therefore, cannot be classed with the cinnamon oil of 

 commerce, nor wdth cassia oil, as it is deficient in cinnamic 

 aldehyde, although the princij^al constituents of those oils (cin- 

 namic aldehyde and eugenol) were present. 



Further researches are in progress to locate the principal con- 

 stituent of this oil. 



Mr. K. T. Staiger, in the Colonial and Indian Exhibition 

 Report (1886, p. 11), gives the yield of oil of C. Oliveri, Bail, 

 (under Nesodaphne ohtusifolia, Benth.), as 2 per cent., obtained Ijy 

 a laboratory' experiment, but which therefore can hardly be taken 

 into account from a commercial point of view. As regards Dr. 

 Lauterer's figures* (about -1 per cent.), these were also obtained 

 in the laboratory from 10 lbs. of bark, and therefoi'e are insuffi- 

 cient to determine definitely the commercial possibilities of 

 distilling this oil. The results obtained at the Museum by us gave 

 the actual yield obtainable on a commercial scale, and from them 

 I am unable to endorse Dr. Lauterer's statement " that it never 

 will pay even the expense to distil the essential oil out of the 

 bark for commercial purposes." 



I am of opinion that my own experiments point out that a 

 profitable distillation of this oil is practicable, as there is only a 

 little more difficulty in obtaining it than there is in extracting 

 the oil from the leaves of the Eucalypts; a little extra patience 

 only being required in separating the oil from the water of dis- 



* Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland. Vol. xi. p. 20. 



