— 134 — 



Borneol (Borneo camphor). Of this article our production was 

 for a time fully occupied, so much so, that we were repeatedly com- 

 pelled to abstain from making offers. The consumption has experienced 

 such an enormous increase during the last few years in India and 

 Siam, that it would hardly be possible to satisfy the demand, if simpli- 

 fications in the manufacturing process had not assisted the production. 



Citral. The high value of lemongrass oil also brought about high 

 prices for this preparation. The abnormally hot summer has greatly 

 influenced the consumption. The use of it has become more and 

 more general since it has been found that the citral obtained from 

 the above-named material is fully equal in taste to that produced from 

 lemon oil, and that the disparagement with which it was at first 

 treated, was due to prejudice. Our pure commercial citral is in every 

 respect identical with that of lemon oil, and cannot be distinguished 

 from the latter. There are, however, products met with in commerce 

 which may throw discredit on the preparation, and it is impossible to 

 caution consumers too strongly against such kinds. 



Coumarin. Of this product the most diverse qualities are found 

 on the market, and for this reason a direct comparison of the prices 

 it not permissible. Only by quite special purification methods is it 

 possible to obtain a product which in its odour is absolutely equal 

 to the coumarin from the tonka -bean, and a product of this kind 

 cannot be sold at the lowest cut prices. We have come across 

 a coumarin which had in a pronounced manner the odour of the 

 crude material, carbolic acid. The important increase in the prices 

 of all raw materials has, unfortunately, had no influence on the selling 

 price of coumarin. 



Eman. Senft 1 ) makes some communications on the presence and 

 the detection of coumarin in the tonka bean. According to these, the 

 pods of Dipterix odorata Willd. do not contain coumarin; on the 

 contrary, it is found in the tissue cells of the cotyledons dissolved in 

 the fatty oil. The coumarin - content of the beans may be as high 

 as io°/ . According to Vogel, the separation of coumarin is due 

 to the fact that in consequence of the shrinking of the peripheral 

 cells of the perisperm, the fatty oil is first of all squeezed out, and 

 the coumarin is then deposited from the latter on to the cotyledons 

 turned towards each other, either below or on the testa. — With 

 iodine, coumarin forms a crystalline compound; the smallest quantities 

 of solid coumarin, or even of coumarin dissolved in water, can be 

 detected by means of zinc chloride and iodine. 



*) Apotheker Zeitg. 19 (1904), 271. 



