— 143 — 



all perfumes a sweetness and freshness previously unattainable, be it with 

 genuine rose oil or its numerous artificial substitutes, with pommade-washes 

 or pure flower extracts, or even by purely artificial means. It is therefore 

 no wonder that we have received from all quarters the most flattering en- 

 comiums of this novelty of 1910, nor that as a result of the astonishing 

 demand our stock is becoming seriously reduced. We advise all our 

 friends who use our "Red Rose" regularly to let us book their require- 

 ments for the next three months as soon as possible, in order to prevent 

 disappointment from the certain exhaustion of the supply before the next 

 rose crop. 



Safrol. After having made a beginning with the working-up of the 

 large parcels of camphor oil which we had acquired (see p. 31), we found 

 it possible to reduce the price slightly, but since we have done so the 

 demand has become so brisk that we regard a further easing of the article 

 as out of the question. 



Thymol. Owing to lack of enquiry the advance in the quotations of 

 the crude material, which according to our last Report was to be feared, 

 has not only failed to set in, but the price has receded to a level at which 

 the future of the thymol-trade must be regarded as by no means rosy. 

 Although we have experienced a lively sale for this important preparation, 

 it appears that there are still large supplies in the hands of a few other 

 manufacturers, who are prepared to make sacrifices in order to sell. 



E. W. Schmidt 2 ) makes some interesting communications on the 

 bactericidal value of thymol. Schmidt found that upon various species 

 of bacteria (Bacterium fluoresceins , B. vulgare) this body acted neither as 

 an antiseptic (by destroying) nor as a disinfectant (by arresting the bacterial 

 growth). The species of bacterium named above develops freely in a 

 solution of peptone and gelatine saturated with thymol, or in a solution 

 of agar-agar and thymol. Thymol only, exerts a decidedly arresting action 

 upon the development of the bacteria when the latter are badly nourished; 

 hence, in prolonged experiments in digestion with an alkaline reaction 

 thymol must be regarded as an insufficiently powerful disinfectant for 

 these bacteria. 



*) Zeitschr. f. physiol. Chem. 67 (1910), 412. Quoted from Chem. Zentralbl. 1910, II. 1078. 



