— 106 - 



present no other wood has been found capable of replacing it, which is all 

 the more regrettable because in all probability there does not exist another 

 industry so wholly dependent upon a single kind of wood. Recently, 

 however, large forests of a cedar-species which affords a wood apparently 

 very suitable for pencil-making, have been discovered in German East 

 Africa 1 ). 



A short time ago we were enabled to distil a large parcel of the wood 

 of this East African cedar. Dr. Giessler informed us that the wood was 

 derived from Juniperus procera, Hochst, a tree which occurs in the 

 mountains of Abyssinia and Usambara, as well as on the slopes of 

 the Kilimanjaro and the Kenia. The tree grows at altitudes of from 

 4500 to 9000 feet and in Usambara it forms extensive forests. In its 

 anatomical structure the wood bears a great resemblance to that of 

 Juniperus virginiana. 



Shavings and short planks constituted our raw material. The former 

 yielded by distillation 3,2% of a deep-yellow, liquid oil with an odour 

 distinctly resembling that of vetiver, and giving the following constants: 

 di5o 0,9876, n D20O 1,50893, acid v. 14,9, ester v. 8,4, ester v. after acetyl. 70. 

 The oil itself being too dark to permit the reading of its opt. rot., this 

 constant was determined from a solution of equal volumes of oil and 

 alcohol, and found to be — 3° 43', in a 2 cm.-tube, which would corres- 

 pond with a rotation of — 37° 10' in a 100 mm.-tube for the original oil. 

 The oil was soluble in 1,6 vols. a. m. 80% alcohol and in one half its 

 own vol. a. m. of 90% alcohol. 



The short planks, after being broken up, yielded about 3,24% of an 

 oil which formed at ordinary temperature a semi-solid mass studded with 

 crystals. When drained off from the crystals the oil gave the following 

 constants: di 5 o 1,0289, n D20O 1,51011, acid v. 27,06, ester v. 7,93, ester v. 

 after acetyl. 89,6. In this case also it was impossible to ascertain the 

 rotation of the original oil; but when diluted with its own volume of al- 

 cohol, it gave —3° 15' in a 20 mm.-tube, equal to — 32° 30' in a 100 mm.- 

 tube for the original oil. The oil was soluble in 2 vols. a. m. 80% and 

 in one-half its own vol. 90% alcohol. The crystals consisted of cedar 

 camphor. Recrystallised from alcohol they melted at 86 to 87°, sp. rot. 

 -j- 10,12° (2,5517 g. substance dissolved in 25 cc. chloroform). The phenyl- 

 urethane melted at 106,5°. 



Oil of Cinnainomum Burmantii. Two lots of cinnamon bark which 

 had been sent to us from the islands of Celebes and Timor, their respec- 

 tive producing districts, when anatomically examined by Dr. Giessler 

 proved to be identical, the parent-plant of both, according to this 

 authority, being Cinnamomum Burmanni, Blume (C. Kiamis, Nees), N. O. 

 Lauraceae. 



.*) Comp. also camphor oil, p. 27. 



