— i5 — 



alcoholic constituent of the oil, judged by the odour, appears to be 

 closely allied to borneol. 



Melaleuca linariifolia Sm. 1 ). Yield of oil from leaves distilled in 

 September, 1,214 °/ . The crude oil was pale yellow, and had a tur- 

 pentine-like odour. di 5 o 0,9129; «d4" 2 '5°; n D22° i,474i; sap.no. 6,4; 

 ester no. after acetylation 40,3; insoluble in 10 vol. 70 per cent, alcohol, 

 soluble in 1 vol. 80 per cent, alcohol, with 10 vol. slight cloudiness. 



On distillation 52 °/ passed over between 175 and 183 , and a 

 further 23 °/ up to 250° The oil does not contain pinene and 

 phellandrene; the content of cineol is small. In the portions passing 

 over first, small quantities of aldehydes could be detected; the alcohol 

 present in the oil appears to be identical with the one contained in the 

 oil of M. ihymifolia. 



Calamus Oil, Japanese. According to researches by Y. Asahina 2 ), 

 the mother-plant of this oil appears to be morphologically identical with 

 the European Acorus Calamus L. The coarsely cut-up roots yielded 

 on steam-distillation about 3 °/ oil of a yellowish colour, an unpleasant 

 odour and bitter taste; di 5 o 0,976; « D2 io -|- 23 to -f- 25 ; n Dlso 1,513 ; 

 sap.no. o; sap.no. after acetylation 17; methoxyl - content 9,299 °/ . 

 On fractional distillation the bulk of the oil passed over between 250 

 and 280 . A more detailed examination showed that the oil contained 

 no terpene of the formula C 10 H 16 . Methyl eugenol was detected with 

 certainty, as the principal distillate of the oil on oxidation yielded 

 veratric acid. As the distillate was moreover optically strongly active, 

 contained considerably more carbon than is found in methyl eugenol, 

 and acquired a green colour when acetic acid and sulphuric acid were 

 added, Asahina concludes that a sesquiterpene is present. 



We would here refer to our previous communications 3 ) on Japanese 

 calamus oil. 



Camphor Oil. The critical position of this important material 

 has during the last few months grown decidedly worse, and since all 

 the old stocks have now gone into consumption, the calamity begins 

 to make itself felt to its full extent. Offers of crude camphor oil 

 could during the last six months only be obtained in isolated cases, 

 and white Japanese oil also was only sparingly offered. Owing to 

 our exceptionally favourable position in this article, for which we are 

 chiefly indebted to the reliability of our suppliers and their supporters, 

 we were able to lay in for the present sufficient quantities of crude 

 oil to cover the current demand for safrol and also for light and heavy 

 camphor oil, and to concentrate the trade in these important articles 



*) Comp. also Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, p. 523. 

 2 ) Apotheker Ztg. 21 (1906), 987. 



:i ) Bericht April 1889, 7; Comp. also Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The 

 Volatile Oils, p. 304. 



