— 72 — 



excellently. From the herb raised from them and sent to Berlin, Thorns 



has obtained 0,862°/o oil, calculated for the dry drug. 



The table below gives the properties of the South African oil as 



well as of that distilled at Dahlem and of an oil distilled in Japan. The 



high menthol-content of the African product (84,83%) is worthy of 



attention. 



i n in 



Old Jap. oil Oil from herb Oil from herb grown 



(dist. in Japan) grown in German «t Dahlem (summer 



S.W.Africa 1911) 



d 0,9043(18°) 0,9032(22°) 0,8954(22°) 



« D —36,25° (23°) —35° (24°) -34,75° (25,5°) 



acid v 4,05 2,99 4,01 



ester v 27,73 4,68 12,744 



ester v. after acet. 289,5 304,8 283,25 



esterified menthol 7,74% l,302°/o 3,546° ,o 



free menthol . . . 72,77% 83,528% 75,271% 



total menthol . . 80,51% 84,830% 78,817% 



Sol. p cannot be determined +20 to 20,5° + 14,5° 



Peppermint Oil, Saxon. As was to be feared, the result of the 

 peppermint crop in our Miltitz plantations has only been very scanty, for 

 with the tropical heat of the last few months there was of course no 

 chance of any normal development of the plants. As, moreover, hardly 

 anything was left available of last year's crop, our supplies may now be 

 described as practically cleared. The small quantity which has actually 

 been distilled has barely sufficed sparingly to supply the wants of a few 

 regular customers, who but for these supplies would have been painfully 

 embarrassed. 



Petitgrain Oil, Paraguay. This article, which is such a very useful 

 one in all branches of perfumery, has suffered complete neglect during 

 the past summer, and even the occasional rumours of impending advance 

 in the price have been unable to impart even the slightest life to business. 

 Our informants stubbornly prophesy that great scarcity will soon make 

 itself felt, as the labour conditions in Paraguay are growing more and 

 more unfavourable, and a number of plants have consequently already 

 been compelled to close down. 



A petitgrain oil received from Syria by Roure-Bertrand Fils 1 ) possessed 

 the following constants: d 15 o 0,8857, « D — 3°24 f , sap. v. 77,4 = 27,1% 

 ester calc. as linalyl acetate, soluble in IV4V0IS and more 70% alcohol. 



x ) Berichte von Roure-Bertrand Fils, April 1911, 26. 



