— 138 — 



probably continue to prevail. The high export-figures of the year 1910 at 

 last afford a disproof of the erroneous belief, current in so many quarters, 

 that the innumerable artificial musk -preparations are competing to such 

 an extent with the natural article that a total cessation of the demand for 

 the latter is to be expected within the near future. It is rather the case 

 that in musk, as in so many other articles of perfumery, the natural 

 product continues steadily to find a market side by side with the synthetic 

 substance, and that as a matter of fact there is no question of any real 

 competition between the two. The exports of 1910 have only been surpassed 

 to a considerable extent by those of 1899, 1902 and 1903 1 ). 



Fr. Berger 2 ) has found that natural musk contains on an average from 

 42 to 45°/o moisture, and that the weight always becomes constant after 

 a few days. But a recent sample was an exception to this rule, inasmuch 

 as it showed a loss, over sulphuric acid, in the course of the first month 

 of about 37°/ , after two months of 51,7%, after 12 months of 52,9° > 

 and after 16 months of 53,15%. Berger is unable to account for the 

 cause of this fact, but he suspects it to lie in a process of putrefaction. 



Peru Balsam. The importers in Hamburg, who determine the price 

 of this article, are quite disinclined to make concessions on the best 

 qualities, and as a result the quotations have maintained their level. While 

 this Report was going to press a sudden advance of about 10% has even 

 made itself unpleasantly felt. Of course, it cannot yet be said whether 

 this advance will be lasting, but in any case the stocks in Hamburg have 

 shrunk to a minimum. 



Kronstein 8 ) traces the generation of Peru balsam to the polymerisation 

 of allyl cinnamate. He has ascertained that under the influence of sustained 

 heat this ester becomes polymerised into a resin which is both chemi- 

 cally and physically allied to Peru balsam. It is therefore possible that be- 

 fore the Peru balsam resin is formed, allyl cinnamate occurs in the mono- 

 molecular state within the secreting cells of the plant and that from this ester 

 Peru balsam is formed by polymerisation, while the constituents which are 

 incapable of polymerisation, such as free cinnamic acid and benzyl cinna- 

 mate, remain in their original state. This process would afford an ex- 

 planation of the familiar fact that the action of Peru balsam upon 

 tuberculous centres is not always uniform. It is possible that the thera- 

 peutic value of a given Peru balsam may be determined by its allyl cin- 

 namate content, and that an old balsam, in which the ester has become 

 quite polymerised, may be inactive. 



*) Report April 1910, 147. 



2 ) Zentralbl. f. Pharm. 1910, 466. Quoted from Pharm. Zentralh. 51 (1910), 897. 



3 ) Deutsche med. Wochenschr. 36 (1910), 2339. Quoted from Apotheker Ztg. 25 (1910), 1023. 



