— 33 — 



to 150, soluble in 2 to 4 vols, and more of 70°/o alcohol. Once only have 

 we met with an oil which required 5 vols of 70% alcohol to make a 

 solution. This oil had the high sap.no. 142. 



In any case we may point out again that although, as we are per- 

 fectly well aware, the statement in Gildemeister's book has become anti- 

 quated, it was nevertheless quite correct at the time when it was first made. 



Cascarilla Oil. Our supplies are approaching an end, and as it is 

 unfortunately not possible to obtain material suitable for distillation, it 

 has been necessary for the present to increase the prices. It is to be 

 hoped that this condition will only be a passing one. 



Cassia Oil. In the course of the last few months the prices in China 

 have gradually fallen down to 3/1, but large orders transmitted by us at 

 a limit of 3/-, have up to the present remained unexecuted. The available 

 trustworthy information concerning the cassia oil market is so scanty that 

 it is difficult to form any correctjopinion of the future of the article. We 

 are, however, inclined to think that the prices now ruling deserve attention, 

 and should be an inducement to lay in a liberal supply. Our references 

 to and quotations of this oil of course apply only to 80°/o and 85% quality, 

 which is the only one suitable for perfumery purposes. 



The exact estimation of cinnamic aldehyde in cassia oil by the 

 bisulphite method is sometimes rendered more difficult by the appearance, 

 at the plane dividing the layers of oil and water, of a granular 

 separation which may prevent an accurate reading of the oil-layer. In 

 order to obviate this trouble, C. F. Yates 1 ) proposes that the determination, 

 instead of being made volumetrically, as is usual, shall be carried out 

 gravimetrically by extracting with ether those portions of oil which are 

 not in combination with the bisulphite, and after driving off the ether, 

 weighing them. 



We may observe that this method of estimating the cinnamic aldehyde 

 content of cassia oil is not new, but was originally mentioned by us 2 ) at 

 the time when the bisulphite method was introduced. For various reasons, 

 however, we quickly abandoned it and replaced it by the very much handier 

 volumetric method 3 ), in favour of which it may be said that it has most 

 successfully stood the test of many years. 



We have already on a previous occasion 4 ) mentioned the paper by 

 Perrot and Eberhardt 5 ) on the cinnamon trees of Indo-China, which paper 

 is referred to in the Journal d' Agriculture tropicale. 



!) Perfum. and Essent. Oil Record 1 (1910), 171. 



2 ) Bericht April 1890, 12. 



3 ) Report October 1890, 18. 



4 ) Report April 1910, 31. 



5 ) Bull. d. Sciences pharmacol. 16 (1909), 1; quoted from Journal d'Agriculture 

 tropicale 10 (1910), 159. 



3 



