— 5o — 



ether from fresh blossoms, no methyl ester of anthranilic acid 

 could be detected, but this body was found in the essential oil obtained 

 from this extract by steam distillation (0,4 °/ ). From this it may be 

 assumed that the compound yielding anthranilic acid ester is readily 

 split up with water vapour. As the blossoms extracted to exhaustion 

 with petroleum ether still yield comparatively large quantities of anthra- 

 nilic acid ester when submitted to steam distillation, it follows that 

 only a small portion of the compound is capable of extraction with 

 petroleum ether. The substance forming indol is apparently not decom- 

 posed by steam distillation, for the distillation of fresh flowers again 

 yielded oil free from indol. 



Oil of Juniper berries. The harvest of berries both in Italy 

 and in Hungary has given abundant results, and these two countries 

 keenly compete with each other in the prices. In consequence of 

 the dry weather, the berries have ripened well, and yield an excellent 

 product. 



Two oils of juniper berries originating from Russia, which have 

 recently been examined in our laboratory, strangely showed a dextro- 

 rotation of — (— 7 to -|- 8°, whilst otherwise lsevorotation is just a 

 characteristic of oil of juniper berries. As the other properties corre- 

 sponded with those of the ordinary distillate (d 15 o 0,8698 ; ester 

 number 15,08; soluble in 5 and more vol. 90 per cent, alcohol), and 

 as the oils also possessed a pleasant, powerful aroma, the deviation 

 in the optical behaviour appears to be solely due to the origin of the 

 oils. Further observations must show whether this assumption is 

 correct, or whether perhaps some other vegetable material serves for 

 the production of this oil. 



Oil of Laurel leaves. In our last Report 1 ) in discussing 

 Mo lie's thesis, we have already referred to the work published by 

 H. Thorns and B. Molle 2 ) on the composition of the essential oil 

 of laurel leaves, and for this reason we need now only refer to 

 that Report. 



Lavender Oil. For this eminently important article, the ab- 

 normal drought during the summer - months has also had disastrous 

 results : on this point all reports from the leading departments agree, 

 so that it will not be necessary to make special mention of the results 

 in the individual districts. One of our principal purveyors estimates 

 the harvest at one-fourth of a normal one, and states that many 

 portable stills could not be worked for want of cooling - water. There 

 is moreover lack of labour for picking the half-dried up plants. 



x ) Report April 1904, 54. 



2 ) Arch, der Pharm. 242 (1904), 161. 



