ESSENTIAL OILS. 75 



than to cultivate them. The subsequent shortage of supphes in 

 any direction does not seem to trouble him, and he is content if 

 Nature only continues to be good to him. Numerous instances 

 might, of course, be given in support of this statement, and the 

 wattle bark and cedar industries are cases in point. It is with the 

 object of pointing out the chemical peculiarities, together with 

 some of the commercial possibilities of the products obtainable 

 from a few of the wonderful Myrtaceous plants of Australia, that 

 this paper has been prepared. The cultivation of some of these 

 species is also suggested, and in such a manner that when ready 

 the material could be collected by machinery, and distilled in 

 correspondingly large stills, so that their several oils might be 

 produced in such quantities and at such a reasonable price as to 

 successfully compete with similar material from other sources. 

 The success obtained with the cultivation of Eucalyptus trees in 

 America, and also in Africa, demonstrates the possibility of their 

 successful cultivation here also. 



The oils considered in this paper have been arranged under 

 the following heads : — 



1. Geraniol and geranyl-acetate oils. 



2. Citral oils. 



3. Citronellal oils. 



4. Eucalyptol (Cineol) oils. 



5. Phellandrene oils. 



6. Pinene oils. 



7. Methyl-eugenol oils. 



1. — Geraniol and geranyl-acetate Oils. 



In this group the products of the following Myrtaceous plants 

 are worthy of consideration : 



(a) Darwinia fasicularis. 

 {b) Eucalyptus Macarthuri. 



The first of these is a small shrub growing plentifully on the 

 shores of Port Jackson, and extending over a considerable area. 

 It has been found some distance north of Manly, and as far as the 

 Blue Mountains. It seems to like the dry, sandy soil of the 

 Hawkesbury series, and is able to withstand the most extreme 

 drought. The leaves are small and slender, and when the terminal 

 branchlets are steam-distilled, from 0-3 to 0-4: per cent, of an aromatic 

 oil is obtained, which consists very largely of the acetic acid ester 

 of Geraniol. The amount of ester has so far been determined 

 to vary between 57 and 65 per cent., according to the time of 

 year. Free geraniol to the extent of about 13 per cent, is also 

 present. The announcement of this geraniol-bearing oil to the 

 Royal Society of New South Wales (December, 1899) was probably 

 the first instance of the known occurrence of this valuable con- 

 stituent in plants belonging to the Myrtaceae, but it is now known 

 to occur in quantity, not only in this Natural Order but in certain 



