— 25 — 



Up to the present little is known of the properties of the valuable oil 

 of ambrette seed, for which reason we record below, as a matter of general 

 interest, the limits of the constants of our own distillates prepared in the 

 course of the last few years, as determined by us. It is well-known that 

 the normal distillate of ambrette seed is of a wax-like consistency, due 

 to the large proportion of high-molecular fatty acids (palmitic acid) which 

 it contains, and that the liquid oil, from which all odourless admixtures 

 liave been removed, is obtainable only by special treatment. 



1. Normal, solid distillate: 



d 40 o acid v. ester v. sol. pt. 



°' 891 I 5 «•■ 38 )insol. in 10 vols. 



acid v. 



ester v. 



75 



66 



to 



to 



132 



113 



to to to to > 



0,892 132 113 39°) 90 /o alcohoL 



A product melting at about 47° gave d 5 oo 0,8834 and was soluble in 

 about twice its vol. and more 90°/o alcohol. 



2. Liquid Oil: 



d 15 o a D n D 2oo acid v. ester v. 



0,9088 +0°14' 1,47421 167,71 solii „ 3to6vots . a . m . 



to to to to to J . , 



0,9123 + 1 ° 19' 1,47646 2,4 180,5 ) 80 /o alcohoL 



Oil of Andropogon intermedins 1 ). This species of Andropogon 

 (comp. Report April 1909, 18) contains, as ascertained at Buitenzorg 1 ), 

 only 0,03% oil: d 26 o 0,919, « D — 15° 30'. Andropogon odoratus 2 ) yielded 

 0,35°/o oil (d 26 o 0,914; « D — 31° 10'), while the distillation of Andropogon 

 procerus (?) only afforded 0,08% oil. 



Angelica Oils. The scanty quantity of oil produced as the result of 

 last autumn's distilling-season has of course maintained its exceptionally 

 high level of prices throughout the winter, and it was only the approaching 

 spring which induced several manufacturers somewhat to moderate their 

 demands. We have followed this decline in our own quotations. In our 

 opinion there is no cause for anticipating that the result of the present 

 year's crop will be specially favourable, seeing that young plants are 

 wanting everywhere, the 1911 sowings, both here at Miltitz and in Thuringia, 

 having been a total failure owing to drought. It is therefore probable 

 that the market conditions will shape themselves practically the same as 

 iast year, and consumers will be well-advised if they cover their require- 

 ments for the present year at the prices now current, which are in our 

 view only transitory. The unfavourable conditions prevailing in angelica 



*) The author-names are not stated in the original; we suppose that Andropogon inter- 

 medins, R. Br. and A. odoratus, Lisb. are meant. The latter was referred to in our Report of 

 April 1907, p. 36. 



2 ) Jaarb. dep. landb. in Ned.-Indie, Batavia 1910, 48, 49. 



