— 107 — 



Distillation yielded us 0,5°/o of a brownish-yellow oil with an aroma 

 resembling that of Ceylon cinnamon oil, but less delicate. The constants 

 of the oil also differed from those of Ceylon cinnamon oil, being: di 5 o 1,0198, 

 « D — 1°50', n D2 oo 1,58282, soluble in 0,8 vols. 80°/o alcohol and more; 

 giving no clear solution with 10 vols. 70°/o alcohol. The cinnamic alde- 

 hyde content, as determined with neutral sodium sulphite, was 77%, while 

 a determination with bisulphite showed about 80%, but in the latter case 

 the result was very untrustworthy, probably owing to the fact that other 

 aldehydes were also present, and that their bisulphite-compounds separated 

 out from the solution and prevented an accurate reading. The determi- 

 nation of phenols with 3% soda liquor gave a phenol-content of about 

 11° o. Unfortunately part of the oil had become emulsified during the 

 shaking with the soda liquor, hence it was impossible to read off accu- 

 rately those parts of the oil which had not entered into reaction. The 

 value given above is therefore only approximate. 



Oil of Matricaria discoidea. Among the numerous plants of the 

 N. O. Composite which have been introduced among us from North America 

 is Matricaria discoidea, D. C, a plant resembling our chamomile, but smaller 

 and also particularly differing from our chamomile in having much smaller 

 marginal flowers. The plant was introduced into Europe in the middle of 

 the 19 th century and has acclimatised itself with surprising rapidity; being, 

 for instance, very common in Wiirttemburg and in many parts of Alsace- 

 Lorraine, in particular in the neighbourhood of railway-stations 1 ). We 

 have also observed this chamomile in Leipzig and its vicinity (Railway 

 Station to Berlin, Gohlis, Eutritzsch, Rosental, Schonefeld, Zwenkau, and 

 Miltitz), and have caused a small quantity of it to be collected locally 

 for distilling purposes. From the entire plant, every part of which appears 

 to contain essential oil, we obtained 0,15% of a dark-brown oil, studded 

 with paraffin crystals when at ordinary temperature, possessing an odour 

 which may be said to be intermediate between that of common and of 

 Roman chamomile oil. Sp. gr. at 30° 0,9175, acid v. 18,7, ester v. 77,5. 

 On account of its fairly considerable paraffin-content the oil made no 

 clear solution even with 90% alcohol. The paraffin which was separated 

 out, after being twice recrystallised from dilute alcohol, melted between 

 58 and 61 °. 



Oil of Meriandra benghalensis. In the course of the present year 

 we received from the Government of the Italian colony of Eritrea two 

 essential oils prepared in that colony, and described as sage oils. The 

 samples were of a pale-brown colour and possessed an odour which, 

 although it bore some resemblance to that of sage oil, was nevertheless 



] ) According to a symposium in the Pharmakognostische Rundschau for the year 1910 

 (published byjMitlacher, Tunmann and Winckel), Vienna 1911, p. 85. 



