NOTE ON THE PARAFFINS OF EUCALYPTUS OILS. 97 



be that eventually a paraffin with even a higher melting 

 point will be isolated from the oils of other Eucalyptus 

 species. 



The aliphatic paraffins cannot be considered as very 

 uncommon constituents in essential oils, and their presence 

 has been shown in the oils of more than a dozen different 

 plants. Those containing paraffin in greatest amount are 

 rose oil and chamomile oil ; and in these the stearoptene 

 is often so abundant that the oil congeals on cooling. The 

 paraffin recorded from neroli oil melts at exactly the same 

 temperature as that from the oil of Eucalyptus acervula, 

 while that in chamomile oil only differs by one degree. No 

 less than eight paraffins have been recorded from other 

 essential oils the melting points of which are within one 

 degree of that isolated from the oil of E. Smithii. If the 

 paraffin from this species is considered as a homogeneous 

 substance, then its formula would probably be 29 H 6 o; at 

 any rate, the number of carbon atoms in the molecule must 

 be very high. 



What part these paraffins play, if any, in the formation 

 of other aliphatic constituents of .Eucalyptus oils is at 

 present quite unknown. 



G— July 2. 1913. 



