— 91 — 



tent of up to 27°/o, and, with one single exception, the oils were insoluble 

 in 70°/o alcohol. The conclusions which Muraour draws from the abnormal 

 behaviour of the oil-samples examined by him are therefore, to say the 

 least, doubtful. 



Peppermint Oil, rect. German Ph. V. The value of this important 

 article has of course been influenced to a corresponding degree by the 

 upward movement in American and Japanese peppermint oils, with the 

 result that it has been necessary to raise the price not inconsiderably. 

 Until the peppermint oil market all round recedes to lower values the 

 enhanced rates will have to be paid. 



Peppermint Oil, Hungarian. The experimental station for medicinal 

 plants attached to the Royal Hungarian Agricultural Academy at Klausen- 

 burg-Kolozsvar has examined a series of peppermint oils distilled in Hun- 

 gary, on wich K. Irk 1 ) reports. 



The Hungarian peppermint oil resembles the American oil most clos- 

 ely. The plant (in the moist state?) yields 1,17% oil, possessing the 

 following constants: d 15 o 0,90142 to 0,91918, <* D — 26,72° to 32,38°, 

 n D 2oo 1,4632 to 1,4760, soluble in 3 to 5 parts 70% alcohol and in its own 

 volume of 90% alcohol. The following fractions passed over during dis- 

 tillation: up to 200° 7,0%, 200 to 205° 10,3%, 205 to 210° 13,4%, 

 210to215°12,9%, 21 5 to 220° 16,7%, 220 to 225° 11,6%, 225 to 235° 16,4%. 

 The residue of distillation amounted to 11,0%. 



Peppermint Oil, Japanese. The result of last year's peppermint 

 oil crop in Japan, which could only be approximately surveyed when our 

 last Report went to press, has fallen somewhat materially below our 

 original estimate. The output has now been found to amount 

 in Bingo Bichiu to only about 40 000 Kin, 

 in Hokkaido „ „ „ 144 000 „ 



Total 184 000 Kin. 

 Naturally, the fact that the crop failed to fulfil expectations gave a 

 fresh impetus to the firm tendency which had made itself felt in the 

 menthol and peppermint oil markets in the course of the autumn, a ten- 

 dency which had probably been set afoot originally by the inundations 

 and hurricanes of last August. During the winter an extremely brisk 

 turnover for consumption took place, New York in particular taking large 

 parcels out of the market at rising prices, and the speculators then judged 

 that the opportune moment for their operations had arrived, with the result 

 that the prices rose to a higher level than had been known for seven 

 years. By the middle of March the market had become a little calmer, 



*) Kiserletiigyi Kozlemenyek 13 (1910). Bericht aus dem chemischen Laboratorium der 

 Heilpflanzenversuchsstation der Kgl. Ungarischen Landwirtschaftlichen Akademie in Kolozsvar. 

 From a reprint kindly sent to us. 



