— 72 — 



longer applies, but that the name Amyris bahamifera L. *) must be 

 substituted, under which the plant had already been identified previous 

 to Holmes' examinations. 



Savin Oil. In our last Report we discussed on p. 62 among 

 others also a work by Umney and Bennett, in which it was pointed 

 out that French oil of savin is usually not obtained from Juniperus 

 sabina L., but from Juniperus phoenicea L. ; the oil behaves approximately 

 as a genuine savin oil to which oil of turpentine has been added. As 

 a matter of interest we quote here the properties of an oil from the 

 leaves of J. phoenicea, which we received from a business friend in 

 Cannes: d^o 0,8643; a D -f-7° 2o/ ; ester no. 1,5; ester no. after 

 acetylation 6,6; soluble in 6,5 and more vol. 90 per cent, alcohol. 



As Juniperus thurifera var. gallica, described more in detail by 

 Holmes 2 ), which is indigenous to the South of Spain and Algeria, 

 also occurs in the departments Hautes-Alpes and Isere, and is often 

 confounded with Juniperus sabina L., it is also quite possible that 

 the oil of this species is employed for adulterating oil of savin, — a 

 matter to which we would here call attention. 



Shellac Oil. A. Etard and E. Wallee 3 ) supply some interesting 

 information on the dry distillation of shellac which, when mixed with 

 an equal weight of sand and distilled, yielded 6°/ gaseous portions, 

 72°/ liquid distillate, and 22°/ coke-like residue. The distillate 

 immediately separated off water; there floated on it a brown, viscid, 

 faintly fluorescent oil (d 0,975), which represented about 52°/ of the 

 shellac. 4O°/ of the oil dissolved in dilute alkalies. Hydrochloric acid 

 separated off from it an oil with a strong odour of fatty acid; the 

 analysis showed pure oleic acid, and caproic acid and sebacic acid 

 were obtained as further products of decomposition. The portion 

 insoluble in alkalies contained terpenes; distillation with water vapour 

 resulted in a hydrocarbon (?) of the b. p. 170 to 1 75° (possibly dipentene), 

 and a terpene (C 5 H 8 ) a of the b. p. 235 to 240 which was soluble 

 in alcohol and benzene, but insoluble in glacial acetic acid. The residue 

 of this water vapour distillation contained a polyterpene (b. p. 310 ) 

 and a saturated hydrocarbon C 32 H 66 (m. p. 61 to 62 , b. p. about 360 ). 

 On the strength of this examination, shellac appears to be a not very 

 stable oleate of a continuous series of polyterpenes. 



Solidago Oils. With reference to the two solidago oils described 

 in our last Report 4 ) we would here give the supplementary information 

 that according to a communication received from an authoritative 



*) Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, p. 486. 

 2 ) Pharmaceutical Journal 75 (1905), 830. 

 8 ) Compt. rend. 140 (1905), 1603. 

 4 ) Report April 1906, 62. 



