— 27 — 



collected in South Dakota, yielded 0,26 °/o oil (calc. based upon green herb?), 

 possessing the following constants: d 2 4© 0,940, « D — 24,2°, n DUO 1,4716, sol. 

 in 1 vol. 80°/o alcohol, acid v. 2,5, ester v. 25, ester v. after acet. 139. When 

 the oil was allowed to stand 3°/o Z-borneol (m. p. 203°; [«] D — 32°) separated 

 out from it. Caprylic and cenanthic acids were probably present in the 

 free state, and cenantic acid, valeric acid, with traces of formic and un- 

 decylic acids, in the esterified form. The oil further contained the following 

 constituents: 18 to 20% cineole (m. p. of the iodol-compound 110 to 113°) 

 and 8 to 10°/o Z-fenchone (m. p. of the oxime 164 to 165°). The oil contains 

 a total of 43°/o borneol, of which 35,6 °/o is free borneol and 6,8% is in 

 the form of cenanthic ester. 



Oil of Artemisia lavandulaefolia (?). A few years ago 1 ), we referred 

 under the name of Artemisia lavandulcefolia to a product distilled at Buiten- 

 zorg, which contained an unidentified solid body, possessing the molecular 

 structure Ci 2 Hi 4 2 . From a subsequent reference to this oil 2 ), we gather 

 that it is most probably derived from another plant than that named above, 

 but so far it had been impossible to procure a fresh supply of raw material 

 to elucidate the botanical origin. The solid body is precipitated in the 

 oil when light petroleum is added. It has m. p. 32,5 to 33°, contains a 

 methoxyl-group and absorbs 3 molecules bromine. The body was heated 

 for a few hours with potash liquor, consuming 2 molecules potassium 

 hydroxide. The reaction-product was then treated with steam, when a body 

 with an odour of amylacetate passed over. This was possibly methyl 

 heptenone. With iodine and potash liquor the distillate gave a pronounced 

 iodoform reaction. After acidulation, w-butyric acid distilled over. The 

 solid body probably represents the methylester of an unstable acid. 



Asafcetida Oil. In a paper on the detection of galbanum and am- 

 moniacum in asafcetida, H. M. Sechler and M. Becker 3 ) state, inter alia, 

 that such an admixture is also observable in the essential oil obtained 

 from the resin in question. While pure asafcetida is said to yield a colour- 

 less oil 4 ), asafcetida adulterated with galbanum or ammoniacum yields a 

 more or less yellow-coloured distillate. It is stated that an addition to 

 asafcetida of as little as 10°/o of the gum-resins referred to may be de- 

 tected by this test. 



It is further asserted that the refractive index also affords a guide to 



the possible adulteration of asafcetida with galbanum or ammoniacum, the 



Refraction of the last-named resins being lower than that of asafcetida. 



^Sechler and Becker regard an asafcetida oil with a coefficient of refraction 



x ) Report April 1909, 20. 



2 ) Jaarb. dep. landb. in Ned.-Indie, Batavia 1910, 45. 



3 ) Americ. Journ. Pharm. 84 (1912), 4. 



*) Gildemeister and Hoffmann, in The Volatile Oils (p. 574), stated that the colour of 

 asafcetida oil varies from yellow to brown. 



