PINE-NEEDLE OIL. 443 



of high vahies paid and the strong protests of purchasers, some of 

 whom now absohitely refuse to have dealings in camphor which 

 lias not drained in the warehouses during at least 48 hours." The 

 Keport adds : — " The districts in Japan famed for camphor trees 

 are Kiushiu, Shikoku, Iga, Suruga, Ise and Kishiu. The forests 

 owned by the people are now almost denuded of timber and very 

 little will be left a few years hence. However, the Government 

 forests are still very rich in camphor trees, and it has been 

 estimated that these alone will maintain annually during the next 

 twenty-five years the full average supply of crude camphor. 

 Formerly, very little care was bestowed upon the preservation and 

 cultivation of this valuable timber. More recently, however, not 

 only the Government, but also the people, have been giving to this 

 most important question the attention it long ago deserved. 

 Xumerous young trees have now been planted and their growth is 

 being carefully tended. Consequently, although hitherto the 

 youngest wood frDui which camphor was extracted was about 

 seventy or eighty years old, it is expected that under present 

 scientific management, the irees will oive equally good results 

 after twenty-five or thirty years. The roots contain a much larger 

 ])roportion of camplior than the trees, 10 lbs. of crude camphor 

 out of 200 lbs. of wood-chips being thought satisfactory. The 

 Suruga timber yields a much smaller percentage." 



Pine-needle oil. Under the general name of Pine-needle 

 oil (in German ''Ficldennadelole ") are comprised the volatile oils of 

 the needles and young shoots of various conifers belonging to the 

 genera Pinus, Picea, Ahks and Larix. Our knowledge of the 

 chemistry of these oils is still imperfect ; with some few exceptions 

 there have been no complete investigations of them, and it has 

 hitherto been customary to consider only certain of their physical 

 characters, such as specific gravity, optical rotation, boiling point, 

 and the detection of particular terpenes. For distinguishing 

 l)etween the needle oils and turpentine oils, the odour has been 

 the chief criterion, and only in a few instances determination of 

 the rotatory power afforded the means of ascertaining the presence 

 of considerable amounts of hcvolimonene in some kinds of pine- 

 needle oil. Under these circumstances it is not remarkal)le that 

 the material met with in commerce as " pine-needle oil " has often 



