— 15 — 



The old stocks, which must be taken into consideration to form 

 a correct opinion on the situation, are said to be distincly low, but 

 difficult to estimate. 



According to the foregoing, low prices must not be reckoned 

 upon in the coming season. 



Oil of Cardamine amara. K. Feist 1 ) has occupied himself 

 with the examination of the essential oil of Cardamine amara L., 

 a plant frequently confounded with Nasturtium officinale R. Br. 

 The oil obtained by him by means of steam distillation of the 

 pulverised fresh herb which had not yet blossomed, formed a brown 

 liquid, -with a pronounced water-cress odour. By the action of alcoh- 

 olic ammonia a thio-urea was obtained from the oil, whose melting 

 point (134 to 1 3 5°) and sulphur- content (mean 24,23°^), correspond to 

 those of the thio-urea obtained from secondary butyl isothiocyanate, — 

 and, as might accordingly be expected, the body showed a feeble 

 dextrorotation. The content of secondary butyl isothiocyanate in the 

 fresh herb is given bei Feist as 0,0357 °/ . Genuine water-cress, as 

 is well known, contains phenyl ethyl-isothiocyanate. 2 ) Secondary butyl 

 isothiocyanate was first detected by A. W. Hofmann 3 ) in the herb 

 of Cochlearia officinalis L. 



Oil of Carline Thistle. Semmler 4 ) has again taken up his 

 studies on the composition of the oil of Carline thistle {Carlina acaulis'L.) 

 which he commenced in 1889, and which has also formed the sub- 

 ject of an examination by Gadamer 5 ). The oil examined by Semmler 

 had the specific gravity djgo 1,0333, and the refraction n D 1,56960. 

 He isolated from it 12 to 15% carlinene, a monocyclic sesqui- 

 terpene C 15 H 24 of the boiling point 139 to 14 1°, at 20 mm. pressure; 

 ^23,8° 0*8733; n D 1 A9 2 - From the high-boiling portions of the oil, 

 palmitic acid (melting point 62 ) separated off. The principal con- 

 stituent of oil of carline thistle is carlina oxide C 13 H 10 O (boiling 

 point 167 to 168 at 20 mm. pressure; d^ 1,066; n D 1,586; « D ±o°). 

 Attempts made to determine the character of the oxygen atom led 

 to no result. But on oxidation with potassium permanganate the body 

 yielded large quantities of benzoic acid, and reduction with sodium and 

 alcohol led to the tetrahydro compound C 13 H u O, which by means 

 of oxidation with potassium permanganate gave the degradation pro- 

 duct 7-phenyl butyric acid C 6 H 5 • CH 2 . CH 2 • CH 2 • COOH (melting 

 point 5 2 ). 



*) Apotheker-Ztg. 20 (1905), 832. 



2 ) Arch, der Pharm. 237 (1899), 511. 



3 ) Berl. Berichte 7 (1874), 513. 



4 ) Berl. Berichte 39 (1906), 726. 



5 ) Arch, der Pharm. 241 (1903), 44. 



