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New essential oils. 



From Antwerp we have received little samples of the two oils referred 

 to below. 



Balan Oil. In Java, the natives employ certain parts of a small, 

 green-flowering shrub, concerning the botanical origin of which we are 

 unfortunately without any particulars, as a remedy for worms in man 

 and beast, and in many districts also the plant is said to be used in 

 some form or other as a nervine. From this plant has been distilled an 

 essential oil (the yield being about 0,05%), called "Balan Oil" 1 ). This 

 oil, which is of a brown colour and has an intense odour somewhat 

 resembling that of bitter orange oil, was found to possess the following 

 constants: di 5o 0,9042, n D20O 1,47715, acid v. 13,0, ester v. 20,5, soluble in 

 one half its own vol. and more of 90% alcohol. Owing to the dark colour 

 the direction of optical rotation could not be ascertained with certainty, 

 but in any case the angle of rotation must have been very slight. The 

 oil reacted with sodium bisulphite, forming a solid additive compound, 

 from which a body with an odour reminding of decylic aldehyde was 

 isolated; the semicarbazone of this body (which is probably a mixture 

 of several aldehydes), melted at 152°. 



Salam Oil. This oil had been prepared from the leaves of Eugenia 

 occlusa, Kurz (Syzygium occlusum, Miq.) 2 ) a plant of the Myrtle family. 

 The yield here, as in the case of Balan Oil, was only about 0,05 °/o. 

 This plant also is collected by the Javanese, and esteemed as a condiment. 

 From the dark-brown oil, crystals (paraffin?) began to separate at as high 

 a temperature as about + 12°. It contained, besides other aldehydes, a 

 not inconsiderable proportion of citral. The recrystallised semicarbazone 

 melted at 135°. The constants of the oil were as follow: di 5 o 0,9567, 

 « D — 1°40', n D20O 1,48614, soluble in 0,5 vols, and more of 90% alcohol. 



Oil from the fruit of Pelea madagascarica (?) 8 ). Prof. Heckel of 

 Marseilles has sent us a small quantity of fruit with an odour of anise. 

 The fruit comes from Madagascar, and Prof. Heckel describes it as being 

 probably derived from Pelea madagascarica, Baill., N. O. Rutacese. We 

 succeeded in obtaining from the fruit 4,05% of a yellow essential oil, of 

 which the odour (unlike that of the fruit, which has a moderately strong 



x ) According to de Clerq (Nieuw plantkundig IVoordenboek voor Nederlandsch Indie, 

 Amsterdam, 1910, P. 254), the Sterculiacea Heritiera littoralis, Ait. is called in Javanese 

 Balang pasisir. 



2 ) In de Clerq's "Nieuiv plantkundig Woordenboek voor Nederlandsch Indie'''', Amster- 

 dam 1910, p. 233, we find for Salam, Eugenia polyantha, Wight. 



8 ) See also E. Heckel , Sur une plante nouvelle a essence anise'e. [Compt rend. 15*2 

 (1911), 565.] Owing to a misprint in this publication, the specific gravity of the oil has 

 erroneously been stated to be 0,953. 



