— 146 - 



it consists of the young leaves, about 15 mm. long and 10 mm. broad, of 

 a small tree of the family of the Myrtaceas, Eugenia apiculata D. C. In 

 addition to a glucoside-like tanning principle the leaves contain an essential 

 oil, to which their medicinal virtues are specially attributed. We have 

 worked up a parcel of these leaves, which yielded l,27°/o of a brown 

 oil, with an odour resembling that of oil of myrtle, and possessing the 

 following constants: di 5 o 0,8920, « D + 12°40', n D20O 1,47821, acid no. 5,5, 

 ester no. 25,8, ester no. after acetylation 65,3, soluble in 0,5 vol. and more 

 of 90% alcohol, paraffin being separated out when the solution is diluted; 

 the oil is not soluble in 10 vols. 80% alcohol. 



Oil of Perilla nankinensis. Perilla nankinensis Decne. {Perilla ar- 

 yuta Benth.; Ocimum crispum Thunb., N. O. Labiatse), which is known in 

 Japan as "Shiso" and of which the leaves are used as a vegetable and a 

 spice, contains an essential oil of which we recently received a sample 

 from Yokohama. The oil was mobile, pale-yellow to greenish, of a 

 peculiar hay-like odour, and possessed the following constants: di 5 o 0,9265, 

 « D — 90°, n D20 o 1,49835, soluble in 0,3 vols, and more of 90% alcohol. It 

 reacted both with acid and with neutral sodium bisulphite, 50% of an 

 aldehyde being obtainable by this reaction. The odour of the aldehyde 

 reminded somewhat of cuminic aldehyde, but in its properties it differed 

 altogether from that body, as was evident, for example, from the fact that 

 it reacted with neutral bisulphite of sodium. A sample was carefully 

 purified from the sulphite compound and distilled first with steam 

 and afterwards in vacuo under 4,5 mm. press. This sample was found 

 to possess the following constants: b. p. 91° (4,5 mm.), 104° (9 mm.), 

 235 to 237° (750 mm.), d 20 o 0,9645, d 15 o 0,9685, « D — 146°, [«] D — 150,7°, 

 "D200 1,50693. The oxime, which was also lsevorotatory, melted at 102°, the 

 phenylhydrazone at 107,5°. The aldehyde was oxidisable into the corre- 

 sponding acid both by moist oxide of silver and with Beckmann's 

 chromic acid solution 1 ). It is almost insoluble in water but readily soluble 

 in almost all organic solvents. Recrystallised from dilute alcohol it forms 

 delicate white scales, m. p. 130°. So far, our attempts to elucidate the 

 chemical constitution of the aldehyde have led to no result. 



In connection with the above we wish to make a brief reference to 

 an oil which is of special interest because it contains a dextrorotatory 

 variety of the aldehyde described above. A sample of wood which was 

 sent to us some time ago under the name of "spurious camphor wood" 

 (faux camphrier), but to the botanical derivation of which we were un- 

 fortunately not able to obtain any clue, yielded upon distillation 2,06% 

 of a pale yellow oil with an odour similar to that of the oil from Perilla 

 nankinensis just referred to. di 5 o 0,9580; « D + 98° 10'; n D20 o 1,49695; soluble 

 in 2,5 vols and more of 70% alcohol. The oil contained 75% of an alde- 



!) Liebigs Annalen 250 (1889), 325. 



