- 105 — 



As will be seen from the table above, there are no remarkable dif- 

 fr ferences in the constants of the oils. Maisit noticed that both oils, when 

 distilled under ordinary pressure, left a remarkably high residue, about 18°/o. 

 He ascribes this to the fact that both samples were crude distillates, but 

 in our view the reason is more likely to have been that in the course 

 of fractionation without reduction of pressure a partial decomposition of 

 the oils took place. 



Oil of Persea pubescens (Pursh.), Sarg 1 ). This laurel is a native 

 of the central parts of North America and is commonly known as "swamp 

 red bay" or simply as "swamp bay". According to Rabak 2 ), the leaves 

 contain 0,2 °/o of an oil possessing the following properties: d 2 5o 0,9272, 

 « D + 22,4°, n D25 o 1,4695, acid v. 2,8, ester v. 14,5, ester v. after acet. 64, 

 sol. in V 3 vol. 80°/o alcohol, the solution turning turbid when 5 vols, or 

 more is added. Rabak detected in the oil only one free acid, viz., butyric 

 acid; but it contained both butyric and valeric acids in the esterified state 

 as well as slight proportions of oenanthic acid. Other constituents observed 

 were: 21°/o d-camphor (m. p. of the semicarbazone 237 to 239°; m. p. of 

 the oxime 117 to 118°), 19,8% cineole (m. p. of the hydrobromide 55 to 57°) 

 and possibly small quantities of borneol and formaldehyde. 



Petitgrain Oil, Paraguay. The pessimistic prognostications of our 

 correspondents have unfortunately proved to be well-founded, and during 

 the last few months it has been more difficult to procure fresh supplies 

 than has perhaps been the case at any previous time. The revolution in 

 ' Paraguay has adversely affected the industry, and to this obstacle has 

 been added an inundation which has crippled the few distilling plants 

 that had escaped the revolutionary disturbances. As a result the prices 

 have risen, but it seems as if they had hardly yet reached their highest 

 point, inasmuch as for the present there appears to be no prospect whatever 

 of any improvement in the conditions. According to a report by the 

 German Consulate of Asuncion 3 ), the exports of petitgrain oil in the year 

 1910 amounted to 28 056 kilos, which shows a falling-off of nearly 2000 kilos 

 compared with 1909 4 ). 



Oil of Peucedanum Ostruthium. F. Lange 5 ) has recently in- 

 vestigated the oil of Peucedanum Ostruthium, Koch, the properties of which 

 are as yet little known. The oil had been distilled from the dry roots of 

 two year old plants grown in the Tyrol, the yield being l°/o and the 

 characters as follow: d 20 o 0,8627, a D20O + 59,30°, acid v. 0,8, sap. v. 17,9, 

 ester v. after acet. 28,34. In addition to free palmitic acid the oil contained 



*) P. carolinensis, Nees of the Index Kewensis. 



2 ) U. S. Dep. of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Bull. No. 235, p. 29. 



3 ) Nachrichten f. Handel u. Industrie, 4 December 1911. 



4 ) Comp. Report October 1910, 106. 



5 ) Arbeiten aus dem pharm. Inst, der Univers. Berlin 8 (1911), 98. 



