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has only been practised by a very few small firms, and even by these 

 only in cases where quantities of little importance are exported by 

 parcel post or in other small consignments. But even in these few in- 

 stances we believe that it may safely be said that the extent of the 

 adulterations barely amounts to from 5 to 10°/o. 



"It may here be properly stated in parentheses that according to the 

 official Customs Declarations the total importation of adulterants for 

 essential oils into Sicily only amounted to 



2767 kilos in the year 1908, and 

 2829 „ „ „ „ 1909. 



"The best security for the assertion that adulterations on a wholesale 

 scale are no longer practised is to be found in the fact that all the larger 

 essential-oil buying firms in foreign countries maintain laboratories and 

 chemists for the purpose of analysing the essential oils received by them, 

 and that in almost every country the consumers of essential oils are 

 protected by the rigorous provisions as to quality laid down in the various 

 pharmacopoeias. It is sufficient, in proof of this, to refer to the United 

 States of America, which not only excludes from admission into its 

 territory all essential oils with as low an addition of foreign substances 

 as 1 l '2° l o i but even carries this policy to the exaggerated length of rejecting 

 really pure essential oils merely because they do not conform to the 

 official tests for purity. 



"Therefore, when it is asserted that it would suffice to remove the 

 alleged 30°/o of adulteration, in order to bring about an automatic increase 

 in the price of essential oils, the assertion is not in accordance with 

 facts; is, in fact, completely false. 



2. "Under this head it is alleged to be untrue that many buyers desire 

 to be supplied with essential oils of a particular type, and the Govern- 

 ment is given to understand that all essential oils should be of a uniform 

 type, and therefore should be suitable for all purposes. Every expert, 

 however, knows that there are enormous differences between pure essences 

 of various origin, both as regards their physico-chemical and their organic 

 properties. Everybody is aware that essential oils vary from each other 

 according to the different times when they are manufactured; that is to 

 say according to the degree of ripeness of the fruit used, the district in 

 which the fruit is grown, and the mode of manufacture. 



"Thus, among the various oils we find some which possess a fine, 

 agreeable odour, others of which the odour is stronger and more acrid, 

 and even some of which the odour is unpleasant, and it must surely be 

 evident that when diseased or bad fruit is used, or when the manu- 

 facturing process is not cleanly conducted, bad oils must be produced, 

 even although they may be chemically pure. Hence it follows that the 

 exporters are compelled to mix the various essential oils in order to 

 arrive at precisely those blends which conform to the tastes or the needs 



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