— 42 — 



acid, m. p. 179 to 180°) methyl ethyl acetic acid (identified from the silver- 

 salt), acetic acid, and traces of a phenol with an odour of thymol. 



Chlorocodon root Oil. According to a letter received by us from 

 the Imperial Biological-Agricultural Institute at Amani, Chlorocodon Whiteii, 

 Hook, occurs in German East Africa in the wild state, and is also culti- 

 vated there by the planters for the sake of the hairs which cover the seeds. 

 An experimental steam-distillation of the green root from wild -growing 

 plants had yielded crystals, which were forwarded to us for comparison 

 with those which had been prepared by us (Comp. Report October 1911, 33). 

 They proved, in fact, to be identical with the latter. The pink-coloured 

 crude product melted at about 35°; when recrystallised from water it 

 yielded white crystals which, after being dried in vacuo over sulphuric 

 acid, melted between 43 and 45°. The crystals prepared by us at the 

 time, after being again recrystallised and dried over sulphuric acid, gave 

 the same m. p. A mixture of our crystals with those received from Amani 

 showed no depression of melting point. 



As mentioned by us in our April Report of 1910, p. 173, P. Friedlander 

 has identified the solid body which has been detected in the root of a 

 Chlorocodon-species by E. Goulding and R. G. Pelly 1 ) as ^-methoxysalicylic 

 aldehyde. Goulding and Pelly 2 ) have isolated by steam-distillation from 

 root recently received by them from Uganda, about 0,25% of this aldehyde. 

 When condensed with aniline in alcoholic solution the aldehyde yields 

 j>-methoxysalicylideneaniline, a body which separates in crystals in small 

 yellow plates and has m. p. 67 to 68°. 



Oil of Cinnamomum Parthenoxylon. An oil distilled at Buitenzorg 3 ) 

 from the chips of Selasian wood (from Cinnamomum Parthenoxylon, Meissn.) 

 gave the following constants: d 1,067, « D + i°3', sap. v. 8,4, ester v. after 

 acet. 11,8. 



Cinnamon Oil, Ceylon (G. Ph. V). The price of this important 

 article, of which the consumption by our customers has enormously in- 

 creased, has undergone no change during the past winter, in spite of the fact 

 that the tone of the cinnamon market has been quite firm throughout the 

 season, and that on occasion, as for instance at the close of the year, 

 the prices in Ceylon underwent a decided advance. Cinnamon -chips, 

 which constitute the principal raw material from which Ceylon cinnamon 

 oil is made, have been wholly unaffected by these fluctuations. 



i 



A cinnamon leaf oil prepared at Buitenzorg 4 ) contained 74°/o eugenol; 

 sap. v. after acet. 263. 



x ) Comp. Report November 1908, 196. 



2 ) Proceed, chem. Soc. 27 (1911), 235. 



3 ) Jaarb. dep. landb. in Ned.-Indie, Batavia 1910, 49. Also comp. Report April 1911, 43. 



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



