— 97 — 



Notes on recent scientific work concerning 

 terpenes and terpene derivatives. 



General. 



In our last October Report (1905, 78) we communicated the 

 results of a study of the laws affecting the composition of a vapour- 

 mixture which is obtained in the distillation of mixtures of liquids. 

 C. v. Rechenberg and W. Weiss wange have meanwhile published 

 in the Journal fur praktische Chemie 1 ) the detailed exposition of these 

 researches, under the title of "Distillation of liquids which do not 

 dissolve each other". We would refer to the original work which, in 

 addition to the results already communicated in our Report, contains 

 specially the description of the distillation-experiments with unsatur- 

 ated oil- vapour in the vapour-mixture. 



The influence of odours and perfumes on the health of man is 

 discussed in a report which we abstract from the official organ of the 

 German Union of Samaritans 2 ) : — - 



"It is long since known that certain substances possessing a strong odour 

 are capable of exerting a powerful influence on the human being. The effect 

 differs no doubt considerably in different individuals, but in particularly sen- 

 sitive persons it may amount to distinct nervous disturbances. It is an indis- 

 putable fact, that perfumes or other strong odours affect in a certain manner 

 the nerves and particularly also the mechanism of the respiration, and can 

 thereby cause, for example, nettle-rash and giddiness. Occasionally odours 

 produce a certain impression on the digestive action, and as a consequence 

 cause nausea, vomiting, excessive salivation, and diarrhoea. It cannot be said 

 that odours, whether pleasant or disagreeable, can actually become the cause of 

 a disease in the usual sense, but they can, by influencing the nerves and inter- 

 fering with their normal action, disturb certain functions which are necessary 

 for the well-being of man, and thereby reduce the body to a condition which 

 is less capable of resisting the attack of a disease. Of course, there are bound 

 to be wide differences between the individual odours and the various human 

 beings. It is a striking fact that people who are occupied in the scavenging 

 of streets, in canalisation work, in slaughter houses, in tanneries, or such places 

 where they are compelled to inhale unlimited quantities of more or less offen- 

 sive odours, do not find their general condition impaired thereby in any partic- 

 ular way. A contributor to the Medical Record calls to mind that the effluvia 

 of manure were for a long time considered an active remedy against rheumatism, 

 and sometimes are so considered even at this day. A proof that pleasant 

 odours also have really an overpowering effect on the human being is found 

 in the well-known example of the tuberose, of which the presence in a room 

 renders many persons positively unconscious. But a whole series of plants 

 could be mentioned whose odours cause headache, such as the honeysuckle, 

 clove, etc. The fragrance of flowering petunias is said to have caused occas- 

 ionally slight poisoning. The preparation of decoctions of linseed and also 



x ) Journ. f. prakt. Chem. II. 72 (1905), 478. 



2 ) Zeitschr. fur Samariter- und Rettungswesen 12 (1906), 31. 



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