— 97 — 



The demand for oil from cones of Abies pectinata has also been very brisk 

 of late, and we have been compelled to place a check upon the rapid 

 diminution of our stocks by increasing the selling prices. It is only by 

 doing so that our stock can be made to last until the summer. Pine- 

 needle oil from Abies pectinata and pine-needle oil from Pinus Pumilio have 

 been abundantly available at unchanged prices. 



Oil of Prunus sphaerocarpa. According to a communication by 

 Peckolt *) the bark of Prunus sphcer vcarpa, Sw. (N. O. Rosacea?), a tree which is 

 common in the mountainous parts of most of the States of Brazil, when 

 distilled yields 0,046 °/ essential oil with an odour of oil of bitter almonds; 

 di 8 o 1,0409. The flowers of the tree also possess a benzaldehyde odour. 

 From the seed, Peckolt isolated 0,910% crystalline amygdaline, but from 

 the leaves and the bark he only obtained an amorphous substance, which, 

 however, reacted with emulsin. The green leaves yielded a weak distillate, 

 the hydrocyanic acid content of which varied greatly according to the 

 month in which distilling had taken place. For instance, the green raw 

 material yielded 

 Early in March (Summer) . . . 0,085 °/o anhydrous hydrocyanic acid 



„ „ Sept. (Winter) 0,0016°/ 



„ „ December (Spring) . . 0,005 °/o „ „ „ . 



Rhodium oil. An article by E. Holmes 2 ) on rhodium oil (Oleum 

 Ligni Rhodii) contains some interesting information on the botanical source 

 of the drug. In the older pharmacopoeias it is often called Aspalathum, 

 probably for the reason that Dioscorides in his account of Aspalathum 

 states that it occurs in the island of Rhodes. According to Lewis 3 ) the 

 wood comes from Convolvulus Scoparius or floridus, a shrub which grows 

 in the Canary Islands. Hanbury, who took considerable pains to ascertain 

 the origin of Lignum Rhodium, regards Lewis's suggestion as quite inad- 

 missible, because the great woody roots that constitute the commercial 

 drug have never been found in the Canaries 4 ) while Convolvulus floridus 

 has no aromatic properties at all. 



The most probable explanation is that Lignum Rhodium is the product 

 of a species of Genista (6r. canariensis or virgata) the habit of these two 

 plants being in many respects akin to that of Convolvulus Scoparius, so 

 that a confusion between two shrubs belonging to two such very different 

 natural orders is quite within the bounds of possibility. 



Rose Oil, Bulgarian. As was to be anticipated from our Report 

 of last October, prices have gradually advanced further. Shortly before 



!) Berichte der deutsch. pharm. Ges. 20 (1910), 594. 



*) Perfum. and Essent. Oil Record 2 (1911), 29. 



3 ) Diet. Mat. Med. (1810), Vol. II. p. 61. 



*) The odour of the oil which we distilled some years ago from the root of Convolvulus 

 Scoparius did not fulfil the expectations (Gildemeister and Hoffmann "The Volatile Oils' , ) 

 1 th Ed., p. 592). 



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