— 94 — 



Mustard Oil. Contrary to expectation, the demand for the natural ^ 

 distilled oil has not declined to the extent which we anticipated in our 

 last Report, and we have therefore only recently commenced the distillation 

 of another large parcel of mustard seed. It is a fact, however, that there 

 is less demand for natural mustard oil than formerly, and only Russia 

 still remains a regular customer for quantities of some importance. Generally 

 speaking users have turned to the artificial mustard oil, and in this they 

 are quite justified. 



It has often been asserted that black mustard does not contain enough 

 myrosin to split up the whole of the glucoside sinigrin which also occurs 

 in it, and in order to increase the yield it has even been recommended 

 to add white mustard during the process of fermentation. Experiments 

 in this direction which have been made by H. ). Greenish and Dorothy 

 J. Bartlett 1 ) have shown the assumption with regard to the insufficiency 

 of myrosin to be incorrect. Not only does the seed contain enough myrosin 

 to split up the sinigrin which is also present in it, but the proportion of 

 the enzyme is occasionally large enough to decompose thirteen times 

 the quantity of sinigrin in the seed. 



As was to be expected, the addition of white mustard during fer- 

 mentation does not improve the oil-yield in the slightest degree. 



According to Greenish and Miss Bartlett the addition of sodium fluoride 

 to mustard seed during fermentation (as recommended by Brioux) 2 ), is 

 very effective, 0,4% of the fluoride being sufficient. Fluoride of sodium 

 does not injuriously affect the action of myrosin, but it kills the micro- 

 organisms which destroy the allyl sulphocyanate. 



Interesting also is the observation made by Greenish and Miss Bartlett 

 that black mustard of the 1905 crop when examined in 1911 showed a 

 normal myrosin-content; from which it appears that myrosin is not injured 

 by prolonged storage of the raw material. 



Myrtle Oil. To the myrtle oils of special origin which have been 

 described in our previous Reports 3 ) must be added an Algerian oil which 

 has recently been examined by us. Its properties agree with those of the 

 Corsican oil: di 5 o 0,8871, « D + 25°52', n D20 o 1,46466, acidv. 1,1, esterv.20,6, 

 ester v. after acet. 39,2, sol. in 0,5 vol. a. m. 90% alcohol. 



Oil of Nepeta Nepetella. Nepeta Nepetella, L. is the name of a 

 Labiate which grows fairly plentifully in the neighbourhood of Saint-Aub^p 

 (Maritime Alps) 4 ). The plant possesses a peculiar odour of peppermint. 

 The oil (yield 0,0598%), distilled after the close of the flowering season, 



*) Pharmaceutical Journ. 88 (1912), 203. 



2 ) Annates de Chimie analytique 17 (1912), 6. 



8 ) Report April 1909, 71; April 1910, 78; October 1911, 61. 



*) Berichte von Roure-Bertrand Fils, October 1911, 41. 



