Vol. III. No. 45. 



THE AGEICULTUEAL NEWS. 



NOTES ON SOME ESSENTIAL OILS 

 AND DRUGS. 



Considerable interest has been aroused from time 

 to time in the West Indies upon the subject of the 

 possibilities of a trade in essential oils. At the West 

 Indian Agricultural Conference, 1902, a valuable paper 

 was read by Mr. J. H. Hart, F.L.S., Superintendent 

 of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Trinidad, on the 

 ' Preparation of Essential Oils in the West Indies. ' 

 This paper will be found in the West India n Ballctln, 

 Vol. Ill, pp. 171-8, together with some interesting 

 i-emarks on the same subject by Dr. H. A. A. Nicholls, 

 of Dominica. We give below further notes on some of 

 these oils : — 



OIL OF GUAIAC WOOD. 



This oil is the product of lignum vitae (Guaia- 

 cum offi-cinulv) which is of common occurrence in 

 these islands. The wood is chiefly obtained from 

 Cuba and Hayti. An allusion is made to its export 

 from the latter island in the Agricultural Netiv, Vol. 

 II, p. 3G0, where it is stated that the export has 

 increased greatly of late, 3,048 tons of wood and 27 

 tons of gum being exported during the year 1902. 

 The wood is exported in the forni of logs. 



The following reference is made to the oil of 

 guaiac wood in the semi-annual report of Messrs. 

 Schimmel & Co., of Miltitz, London and New York : — 



The importation of raw material has cea.sed conipletely, 

 and as a consequence tlio prices have advanced by more than 

 double. We were in the fortunate position of being able to 

 provide our clients witli abundant .supjilies, but at present 

 stocks are entirely exhausted and no supplies of wood in 

 sight. 



From a voluminous essay which was awarded a prize by 

 the Medical Faculty of Eostock University, and whicli is 

 entitled : ' Contributions to the knowledge of guaiac prepara- 

 tions,' we abstract the following details of the physiological 

 action of oil of guaiac wood and of giiaiol : — 



Both preparations have the same action on the animal 

 organism. Oil of guaiac wood passes without injurious effect 

 through the organism of manunals. The central paralysis 

 observed on frogs is produced by many essential oils in 

 doses of a centigram. Guaiol is also free from toxic effect 

 on warm-blooded animals, and it has no share (or only a very 

 unimportant one) in the paralysing eff'ect of the oil. It passes 

 almost completely unchanged through the organisms, and 

 only traces of glycuronic acid can be detected in the urine. 



LEMON GRASS OIL. 



This oil is the product of the lemon grass (Avdro- 

 2>0(ion Hrhoenanthiif>). The oil has been exported 

 from time to time from these islands in small cpianti- 

 ties, but it is hardly correct, as stated in the following 

 note, also taken from Messrs. Schimmel's report, that 

 the cultivation of these grasses is extending to any 

 great extent : — 



The value of this article unfortunately ap[iears to 

 remain at its present exceedingly high level ; it should prove 

 highly remunerative to the manufacturers on the Malabar 

 coast, if it is taken into consideration that the former normal 

 price was less by half than what it is now. Stocks of any 

 importance exist nowhere. There can therefore be no 

 doubt that the high prices will remain in force. We 



have repeatedly mentioned in our reports that the cultiva- 

 tion of andropogon grasses in the West Indian Islands 

 appears to be extending more and more, as during the last 

 few years we have frequently received from those countries 

 samples of oils which were derived from this species of grass, 

 and which were partly citronella oils, and partly oils of 

 lemon grass. 



OIL OF PIMENTA. 



We give the following extract from the above- 

 mentioned rejjort referring to oil of pimenta, but it 

 should be noted that it is not stated whether this oil 

 is prepared from the leaves of the pimenta tree 

 {Pimenta officinalis) : — 



Colourless or pale-yellow, subsequently brown ; soluble 

 in si)iritus fortior in every proportion ; when shaken with 

 the same volume of caustic soda lye, an almost solid mass 

 should be formed ; the solution in an equal volume of spiritus 

 fortior should only have a very feeble acid reaction ; test for 

 carbolic acid. 



VANILLIN. 



Vanillin is the scent-yielding or aromatic consti- 

 tuent of vanilla fruits, in which it usually occurs in the 

 proportion of about 2 per cent. It is found on the 

 surface of vanilla pods in the form of minute glistening 

 crystals. It is prepared artificially from coniferin, 

 a substance occurring in the sapwood of some of the 

 Coniferae. The following scientific note on this 

 substance is also taken from Messrs. Schimmel's 

 report : — • 



The decline in the value has not only come to a stand- 

 still, prices show even an advance. They may have to be 

 raised still further, should those of clove oil, wliich forms the 

 material for vanillin, continue to rise. 



It will be known that vanilla fruit, in the state in which 

 it is gathered, does not in the least possess the characteristic 

 odour of vanilla. It only acquires this odour by suitable 

 treatment. H. Lecomte has now studied the conditions 

 which bring about the formation of vanillin, which imparts 

 the wonderful jierfume to the fruit. According to the 

 researches of the above-named .scientist, there exist in the 

 vanilla plant two ferments, which differ in a marked degree 

 from each other in their functions. The one, an oxydase, is 

 present in the individual organs of the plant, such as the 

 leaves, shoots, and their aqueous extracts, in the green and 

 ripe fruit which has not yet been worked up, and in the 

 prepared commercial fruit. Lecomte detected it in these 

 organs of plants of different origin, by means of G. Bertrand's 

 reaction. At the same time, the presence of manganese salts 

 was observed in all products, which renders it not impossible 

 that they stand in some relation to the above-named ferment. 

 The second ferment is contained in the sap of the vanilla, 

 and produces, as a hydratizing ferment (in the manner of 

 diastase bringing about the conversion of starch into grape 

 sugar), the formation of a substance which shows the same 

 reactions as those which have always been met with in the 

 vanilla jilant. With regard to the mechanical treatment of 

 vanilla, it would appear in the first instance as if it 

 counteracted the function of the ferment. It consists, as is 

 well known, of the inunersion of the fruit during twenty 

 seconds in water of 8.5° C, a manipulation which might bring 

 about the destruction of the ferment. But the author has 

 convinced himself that a temperature of about 50', such as 

 the interior of the fruit probably only reaches during the 

 short duration of the i)rocess, really promotes the function 

 of the oxydase. 



