— 97 — 



was obtained from Trieste, yielded 3,3°/o oil: d uo 0,9440, « D + 0°24', 

 soluble in 2,8 vols. 70°/o alcohol. It contained from 66 to 67°/o thymol. 

 Another sample of origanum herb, which had been received from 

 Trieste by the Imperial Institute in London 1 ), and was found to be derived 

 from Origanum Onites, L., yielded upon distillation an oil of precisely similar 

 properties to those of a distillate from the same plant described by us a 

 year ago (Report April 1911, 85): di 5 o 0,9483, <* D — 1°15', sol. in 2,75 parts a. m. 

 70% alcohol. The phenol-content, consisting almost entirely of carvacrol, 

 was 68°/o. 



Orris Oil. Business in both varieties of orris oil has been some- 

 what sluggish lately, and only began to show signs of revival when it 

 became known that the stocks of Florentine orris root were unusually 

 small and when prices, consequently, began to tighten. The following 

 passage is translated literally from the report of our local correspondents: — 



"Since our last report on Florentine orris root the prices have 

 continually risen, a result of numerous orders which heavily redu- 

 ced the existing stocks. According to our previous communications 

 the supply was as follows: — 



Stock in hand at end of August 1911 .... about 90 tons 



add 1911 crop . „ 600 „ 



' Total : about 690 tons, 

 against which must be set off the total deli- 

 veries from the beginning of September 191 1 



until the end of February 1912 . „ 570 „ 



Hence the available stock on 29 th February 



1912 amounted to about 120 tons. 



The present market price is &ft 90. — per 100 kilos cif. Hamburg 

 for sorts; of pickings scarcely anything is left. According to our 

 last report the average annual exports for the nine years from Sep- 

 tember 1902 /August 1903 to September 1910 /August 1911 amounted 

 to about 690 tons, as compared with an average crop in the eight 

 years 1903 to 1910 of about 650 tons. The crop of 1911, amount- 

 ing to about 600 tons only (the raw root yielded fully 20% less 

 of trimmed root this year than last, apparently owing to the great 

 drought), reduces the average yield of the nine crop-years 1903 

 to 1911 to about 644 tons. On the other hand the deliveries during 

 the last half-year, from the beginning of September 1911 until the 

 end of February 1912, have been very considerable, amounting to 

 about 570 tons, and it may be taken as fairly certain that when the 

 new crop begins to arrive on the market at the end of August there 

 | will be no old supplies whatsoever left to start the new season with. 

 As regards the next crop, the estimates so far agree that it will not 

 only not exceed the last in quantity but will even fall considerably 

 below it." 



In view of the conditions presented above, we are compelled to accept 

 the probability of a considerable advance in the price of orris oil within 



x ) Bull. Imp. Inst. 9 (1911), 388. 



7 



