— 66 — 



We have already mentioned above that the woody parts of the 

 plant are not included in the distillation. When we distilled such a 

 material which had purposely been cut badly, the yield of oil di- 

 minished to 0,5 °/ , whilst the properties and above all the ester- 

 content of the oil itself were exactly the same as those of oils from 

 normal distillation material: di 5 o 0,8910; a D — 8° 13'; 5 1,6 °/ ester; 

 soluble in about 6 and more vol. 70 per cent, alcohol with slight 

 cloudiness. From this it may be concluded that the woody parts of 

 the lavender plant contain very little essential oil, or none at all. 



We have also found confirmed the well-known fact that lavender 

 is not in all districts equally rich in ester 1 ). In our second factory, 

 situated in Sault (Dep. Vaucluse), we obtained, in spite of absolutely 

 the same conditions in the distillation as at Barreme, only oils with 

 36 to 43% linalyl acetate. 



The great difference between the steam distillation and the water 

 distillation naturally causes a slight deviation of the oils obtained by 

 means of steam, from the ordinary commercial oils, not only in their 

 ester-content but also in their other properties. The requirements in 

 force for the commercial oils are: d^o 0,882 to 0,895; «d — 3 to — 9 ; 

 ester-content 30 to 45%? soluble in 2 to 3 and more vol. 70 per cent, 

 alcohol, sometimes with slight opalescence. 



Now in the oils distilled with steam the specific gravity usually 

 approaches more the upper value; in two cases even specific gravities 

 of 0,8964 were observed; moreover, these oils have on the average 

 a fairly high rotation, and mostly a distinctly lower solubility. We 

 give below the limits of the values observed up to the present in our 

 own distillates: — 





d 15° 



«D 



% ester 



Solubility in 70 per cent, 

 alcohol 



Oils of Barreme 

 Oils of Sault 



0,886 to 



0,896 



0,885 to 

 0,891 



-7° to 

 -9° 33' 



-7° to 

 — 8° 



47 to 56 

 36 to 43 



Soluble in 3 to 7 and more vol., 



sometimes with opalescence or 



slight cloudiness 



Soluble in 3 to 10 vol., mostly 

 clear 



We would still mention that particularly the Sault oils often dissolve 

 with difficulty, a fact which is supposed to be connected with the 

 condition of the soil. Whether and in how far this is so, is a matter 

 on which we are unable to express an opinion. 



According to a communication by C. T. Bennett 2 ) triethyl citrate 

 has recently been added to lavender oil in order to raise the ester- 



1 ) Comp. the map given in our Report of April 1902. 



2 ) Chemist and Druggist 69 (1906), 691. 



