— 75 — 



Syrian origanum oil. The oils had been sent to us from 

 Jaffa, and behaved as follows: d^o 0,936 to 0,960, «d feebly to the 

 right up to -f-i°35 / , phenol-content 65 to 72°/ , soluble in 2 to 3 vol. 

 70 per cent, alcohol, when more alcohol is added opalescence to 

 cloudiness occurs; in one case, no clear solution was formed with 

 70 per cent, alcohol in any proportion. 



Here also the phenols consisted of carvacrol. Worthy of note 

 is the low dextrorotation, contrary to previous observations, according 

 to which origanum oil has a feeble laevorotation. A disadvantage of 

 the Syrian oils is their deficient solubility. 



Orris Oil. Our correspondents have supplied us with the following 

 information on the orris root market: — 



Since we reported last Autumn on the Florentine orris roots, the market, 

 owing to the brisk demand, advanced to the parity of 69/70 marks cif. Ham- 

 burg for assorted roots, and 61/63 marks cif. Hamburg for seconds, and the 

 prices have maintained themselves with slight fluctuations at this level up to 

 the present. But in the quotations for abroad the fluctuations were more im- 

 portant; for example, one of the speculators had first of all concluded blank 

 sales, then, when he found that the prices advanced, he purchased a large 

 quantity as a "bull", and again, when he had bought more than he could digest 

 he disposed of the surplus of the goods to be delivered, at whatever price it 

 would fetch. Needless to say that the regular trade suffers from such proceedings. 

 According to our previous statistics, the available quantity at the beginning 



of September 1906 was about 290 tons 



Add to this the result of the harvest „ 800 „ 



Total about 1090 tons 

 If we deduct from this the shipments from the beginning of 



September 1906 to the end of February 1907 . . . . about 410 tons 

 There are left available, at the end of February 1907 . . about 680 tons 

 Against the above 410 tons exported during the past half year, the export 

 for the same period of the previous year, September 1905 to February 1906, 

 amounted to 550 tons, i. e. this time about 140 tons less. The shipments during 

 the last seasons were: — 



September 1902 /August 1903 about 840 tons 

 1903/ „ 1904 „ 820 „ 

 1904/ „ 1905 „ 500 „ 

 1905/ „ 1906 „ 920 „ 

 This is equal to an annual average quantity of about 770 tons. In previous 

 years, however, the average annual export was about 900 tons. The results 

 of the five last harvests were: — 



in 1902 about 1000 tons 



1903 » 75o » 



1904 „ 670 „ 



I9°5 » 8 5° » 

 1906 ,, 800 ,, 



On a previous occasion we have already pointed out that the 1906 crop 

 was considerably increased by the old roots which, owing to the favourable 

 prices, had been gathered, instead of (as was apparently intended), letting them 

 fall into oblivion. These roots were of inferior quality, but the result of the 



