IOO — 



Safrol. The slight increase in the prices which we have now 

 been compelled to make is of course out of proportion to the rise 

 in the value of the raw material, and for this reason a further advance 

 in the near future may be all the more probable, as our stocks of 

 brown camphor oil, from which safrol is obtained, are becoming seriously 

 depleted. The new supplies which we are still to receive cost much 

 more, and are so unimportant that we have already for some considerable 

 time been unable to enter into any engagements for forward delivery. 



Thymol. It has taken a long time before it was possible to 

 raise the selling prices of this preparation, which in consequence of 

 the severe competition and in view of the advance in the price of 

 the raw material, left no longer any profit, for the price-cutting in 

 this article has only recently come to an end. The quotations for 

 "weedseed" (ajowan seed) have advanced during the summer months 

 from ii J - per cwt. to about 14/- per cwt, so that a further increase 

 in our published prices was necessary. With regard to the new harvest 

 in India, of which the first shipments will not reach the market before 

 January/March, the reports from individual districts differ so greatly 

 that it is at present not possible to express an opinion. 



Vanillin. The frequent adulteration of vanilla extracts with 

 acetanilide have induced A. L. Winton and E. M. Bailey 1 ) to publish 

 the following method for the quantitative estimation of vanillin, 

 coumarin, and acetanilide, which represents a modification of Hess' 

 and Prescott's method. In a suitable vessel 25 g. of the extract are 

 mixed with so much dilute alcohol, that the whole mass amounts to 50 cc, 

 which is then evaporated on the water-bath (not above 70 ) down to one 

 half; the manipulation is then repeated once more. Now lead acetate 

 is added until a precipitate is no longer formed; the latter is then 

 filtered and washed out in such a way that the filtrate does not consist 

 of more than 50 cc. This is then shaken first with 20, then 3 times 

 with 15 cc. ether, and the collected ether solutions first with 10, and 

 then 5 times each with 5 cc. of 2 per cent, ammonia liquor. The 

 ethereal portion is then allowed to evaporate at ordinary temperature, 

 the weighed residue is decanted 3 times each with 1 5 cc. low-boiling 

 petroleum ether (b. p. 30 to 40 ), and the petroleum ether poured off 

 is also allowed to evaporate at ordinary temperature. The ethereal 

 extract then contains the coumarin; any acetanilide which has been 

 added is present in the petroleum ether extract. 



The coumarin should melt at 67 , the acetanilide has the melting 

 point 112 . If the above-mentioned ammoniacal solution is now acid- 

 ulated with hydrochloric acid, and extracted with ether, the residue, 



*) Pharmaceutical Journal 75 (1905), 476. 



