- 8 5 - 



We hear from the South of France that the adulteration of spike 

 oil is carried on this year in a particularly impudent manner, chiefly 

 with camphor oil containing safrol, and further with Spanish sage oil, 

 which finds its way almost exclusively to the South of France. The 

 latter has a value of 3 to 4 francs, and is a product which lends 

 itself to all possible adulterations. 



It stands to reason that the prices of spike oil had to be raised 

 considerably. In view of the scarcity of this oil, it may be worth 

 while to consider whether, and in how far, Dalmatian rosemary oil 

 can replace spike oil in practice. 



Star-anise Oil. The events in the Far East appear to have 

 diverted attention entirely from this Chinese product. Since the 

 spring, the prices have gradually declined from 5/3 to 4/9, and even 

 a transaction of about 500 cases, concluded by us at Hongkong in 

 August, has not led to any advance worth mentioning. This fact 

 points to the existence of large stocks in China. 



Speculative stocks bought at high prices are said to be still held 

 in London and Hamburg. 



In our opinion the present value of this article is low. A drop 

 below 5/- was at the time declared by the most experienced experts 

 to be impossible. 



Turpentine Oil. Wor stall 1 ) has made experiments with regard 

 to the absorption of iodine by turpentine oil, and he finds in the 

 determination of the iodine number a serviceable means of establishing 

 adulterations of oil of turpentine, if the work is carried out under 

 exactly identical conditions. 



Worstall lets 0,1 gm. oil with 40 cc. Hubl's iodine solution 

 stand overnight in a bottle provided with a glass stopper, and then 

 titrates back the excess of iodine. The average iodine number of 55 

 pure turpentine oils was found at 384, whilst in theory 373 was to 

 be expected on converting C 10 H 16 into C 10 H 16 I 4 . 



Further experiments showed that the absorption of iodine according 

 to the above directions is accomplished in 4 to 6 hours, and that 

 with a large excess and prolonged action of the iodine solution, 

 a further absorption takes place through secondary reactions. 



The iodine number of resin spirit was determined at 185, of resin 

 oil at 97, of refined wood turpentine at 212, and of water -white at 

 328, whilst kerosene and naphtha, as might be expected, did not 

 absorb iodine. 



Slight admixtures of petroleum distillates will therefore show them- 

 selves already by a lowering of the iodine number; in any case, 



*) Journ. Soc. chem. Industry 23 (1904), 302. Chem. Centralbl. 1904, I. 1676. 



