- 78 - 



Rosemary Oil. The supplies of last year's oil having been entirely 

 cleared, very high prices are momentarily asked for French oil, but in 

 view of the competition of the cheap Spanish oils it is improbable that 

 these rates can be maintained. Dalmatian rosemary oil, of which the 

 distillation has just been concluded, appears to have a slightly lower 

 tendency in view of the restricted demand, but for the present nothing 

 definite can be said on this head. 



Three samples of guaranteed pure rosemary oils distilled in the island 

 of Lissa (Dalmatia) 1 ) gave the following constants: 





diso 



«D 



of the first 10 °/o 



sap. v. 



soluble in 



1. 



0,8941 



+ 0°44' 



+ 2° 40' 



19,3 





2. 



0,8945 



+ 0°43' 



+ 2° 28' 



18,5 



0,5 to 0,8 vols. a. m. 

 90°/o alcohol. 



3. 



0,9003 



+ 1°27' 



+ 1°14' 



not 

 determined 





Samples Nos. 1 and 2 in particular gave no clear solutions with 

 10 vols. 80% alcohol. This fact, as well as the exceptionally low sp. gr. 

 of these two oils, is perhaps due to their having been' distilled in May, 

 at the beginning of the season, from green herb, which made them specially 

 rich in terpenes. 



P. Jeancard and C. Satie 2 ) have published a comprehensive essay on 

 rosemary oil. They base their statements upon their own experiences 

 of the article gathered between the years 1906 and 1910, and arrive at 

 the conclusion that rosemary oil should be required to behave as follows: 

 d 150 0,900 to 0,920, « D ±0° to +12°. Total borneol 9 to 18%; solubility 

 in 85°/o alcohol = 0,5 to 1 and in 90°/o alcohol = 0,1 to 0,5. According 

 to the experience of the authors, not all rosemary oils are soluble in 80% 

 alcohol. The bornylacetate content varies from 1,7 to 5,1%. 



Jeancard and Satie also deal at length with the question whether the 

 want of solubility of certain Spanish rosemary oils justifies the conclusion 

 that they have been adulterated with turpentine oil, and whether this point 

 can be determined by analysis, but they do not arrive at any positive 

 conclusion. In dealing with this matter they also refer to the distilling- 

 method recommended by us. This method consists in distilling off 5 cc. 

 oil from a Ladenburg flask of 50 cc. capacity and testing the rotatory 



x ) Comp. foot-note p. 63. 



a ) Americ. Perfumer 6 (1911), 6; Rev. gen. de Chim. 14 (1911), 125. From a reprint 

 kindly sent to us. 



