— 43 — 



in alcoholic sulphuric acid, in the course of which reaction an odour of 

 acetic ester becomes perceptible. When oxidised with bichromate of 

 potassium and sulphuric acid, acetic acid is formed, inter alia, as an 

 oxidation product. The examination is being continued. 



Cherry Laurel Oil. On the absence of free hydrocyanic acid from 

 the leaves of the cherry laurel, see p. 154. 



Oil of Cinnamomum mindanaense, Elmer. This laurel, which is 

 closely allied to Cinnamomum zeylanicum, is fairly plentiful in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Mindanao 1 ). The bark yielded 0,4°/ essential oil with the 

 following constants: d~ 0,960, « D30 o 7,9° (+?), n D30 o 1,5300. The aldehyde 

 content is about 60%. 



Oil of Cinnamomum Parthenoxylon, Meissn. In Buitenzorg 2 ), 124 cc. 

 oil has been distilled from 15,82 k. of the wood of this laurel. The oil 

 was heavier than water and van Romburgh found it to consist principally 

 of safrol. The wood is known in Java as Selasian wood. 



A sample of this oil, which has been handed to us personally by 

 Dr. de Jong of Buitenzorg, gave the following constants: di 5 o 1,0799, 

 «u + 1°22', n D22c 1,53229, sol. in 2,6 vols, and more of 90°/o alcohol. The 

 oil was of a pale yellow colour and possessed a marked odour of safrol. 

 According to de Jong, the bark of this species of Cinnamomum contains 

 no essential oil. 



One of the earlier Reports of the same Department 3 ) described an 

 oil distilled from this wood which possessed a density of 1,074 (at 20°) 

 and consisted chiefly of safrol, that body being identified by conversion 

 into isosafrol, which gave the characteristic nitrite. When oxidised, the 

 safrol yielded piperonylic acid and its homologue: m. p. about 126°. 



Cinnamon Oil, Ceylon, German Ph. V. The prices of Ceylon 

 cinnamon chips, used principally for the preparation of oil, have 

 only shown unimportant fluctuations; hence the quotations of our own 

 guaranteed pure distillate, which answers every requirement in respect of 

 quality, have remained unchanged. The exports of cinnamon chips from 

 Ceylon have again increased slightly, the figures in 1910 amounting to 

 3022858 lbs., as compared with 2941578 lbs. in 1909. 



J. Meyer 4 ), in an exhaustive study on the cinnamon bark of the Seychelles, 

 arrives at exactly the same conclusions as did Rosenthaler and Reis, to 

 whose work we referred in detail at the time 5 ). As it is impossible for 



a ) Bacon, Philippine Journ. of Sc. 5 (1910), A. 257. 



2 ) Jaarboek van het Departement van Landbouw in Nederlandsch-Indie, 1909, 64. 



*) Ihidem 1895, 39. 



4 ) Arbeiten a. d. Kaiserl. Ges. Amt 36 (1911), 372. 



*) Report April 1910, 35. 



