SHORT AND SIMPLE METHOD FOR DETERMINATION OF VANILLIN. 1 59 



cent., gum, etc., the whole forming a balsam which is insoluble in 

 water but readily extracted by alcohol. The gums, resins and oil 

 probably contribute to the flavour and aroma, for it has been 

 observed that the finest fruit contains the least vanillin. The 

 unripe beans are said to contain coniferin and two enzymes — one 

 enzyme converts coniferin into coniferyl alcohol, the other into 

 vanillic aldehyde." 



I may add, by the way, that the glucoside coniferin, 

 obtained from the cambium of Ooniferae, was the substance 

 originally used by Tieman in the preparation of artificial 

 vanillin, the coniferin being decomposed by boiling with 

 dilute acids into glucose and coniferyl alcohol, which body 

 yielded vanillin on oxidation. 



There are fifty species of vanilla, (Orchidaceae), but only 

 one is used commercially to any extent, and that one is 

 V. planifolia, a native of Mexico. The true home of this 

 species, and where it still flourishes in its wild state, is a 

 narrow strip 50 miles wide and 90 miles long, 5 miles in 

 from the shores of Oampeachy Bay. The upper end of this 

 strip is about 50 miles south of Tampico and extends along 

 the coast 90 miles towards the city of Vera Cruz. 



It has been used from time immemorial by the Toltecs 

 and later by the Aztecs who called it Tlilxochitl. They 

 used it chiefly to flavour their chocolatl, or chocolate. It 

 was as such flavouring that Cortes first became acquainted 

 with it, but he introduced it into Europe as a perfume in 

 the year 1519. Later on it began to be used in medicine 

 as a gentle stimulant and promoter of digestion, and in 

 large doses it was said to act as a powerful aphrodisiac. 



It has been introduced into Reunion, Ceylon, Seychelles, 

 Mauritius, Java, Tahiti, and Fiji, and fruits well in these 

 places if artificially fertilised; for its native Mexico is the 

 only land where fertilisation appears to be carried on effec- 

 tively by Nature's agencies alone. Mexican beans are still 



