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ae , ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW. 
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, BULLETIN 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION, 
XLVI—THE OIL-GRASSES OF INDIA AND CEYLON. / 
(Cymbopogon, Vetiveria and Andropogon spp.) : 
(With Plate.) 
OTTO STAPF. 
About eight years ago the firm Schimmel & Co. (Fritzsche 
ros.), of Leipzig, manufacturers of volatile oils, commissioned 
Messrs. E. Gildemeister, of Leipzig, and Fr. Hoffmann, of Berlin, 
with the preparation of a treatise on the entire subject of volatile 
oils. The result was a volume of over 900 pages (with maps and 
oumerous illustrations) which, under the title ‘‘ Die dtherischen 
Ole,” was published by Julius Springer, of Berlin, in 1899. In the 
following year it appeared in a slightly condensed edition (Zhe 
Volatile Oils, 732 pages), translated by Edw. Kremers, of Madison, 
Wisconsin, and published by the Pharmaceutical Review Pub- 
lishing Co., of Milwaukee. The work is a remarkable and ° 
unfortunately all too rare instance of co-operation between prac- 
tical and scientific men. In plan and execution it gives striking 
proof of the farsightedness and liberality of the manufacturers, 
who wished to see their business placed on a scientific basis, and 
at the same time of the thoroughness of the experts who were 
invited to carry out the ideas of their commissioners. The part 
dealing with the “ Oils of the Gramineae” occupies pp. 280-300 of 
the “Special Part.” Those oils—there are seven of them—are 
first treated generally in an introductory paragraph and then 
individually with respect to origin, preparation, composition, 
properties, production, and commerce. They are: — 
. Palmarogsa Oil from Andropogon Schoenanthus, L. 
. Ginger-grass Oil, described as inferior Palmarosa, or a 
mixture of the latter with turpentine or mineral oil. 
. Lemon-grass Oil from Andropogon citratus, DC. 
. Vetiver Oil from Andropogon muricatus, Retz. 
. Citronella Oil from Andropogon Nardus, L. 
. Oil of Andropogon odoratus, Lisb. 
. Camel-grass Oil from Andropogon laniger, Desf. 
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