— 105 — 



.excitability is first of all lowered, and ceases entirely with sufficiently 

 large doses of the oil. 



In the treatment of malaria it might be used as a substitute of 

 quinine in cases where the latter is not tolerated, or for definite 

 reasons cannot be given. 



New essential oils, 



In our last Report we mentioned on pages 82 — 83 two new oils 

 — of Evodia simplex and Pilea — which had been sent to us 

 by the Syndicat du Geranium Bourbon. Of a third oil, which we 

 had received at the same time, we did not then give a description, 

 as that oil was described simply as oil of "une espece nouvelle". Since 

 then we have heard from Reunion that the oil is obtained from 

 a shrub belonging to the Rutaceae which de Cordemoy has described 

 under the name of Evodia aubertia, but which is said to have been 

 known already for a long time under the name Xanthoxylum aubertia. 

 This plant is known in Reunion under the name "Catafaille blanc", 

 and is highly esteemed there as a very active remedy for wounds, 

 but is also employed as a diaphoretic and a blood-purifying remedy. 

 Unfortunately we found no description of this variety in the botan- 

 ical works which we have at our disposal; we are also " unable to 

 say from what part of the plant the oil has been obtained. It re- 

 presents a yellowish-green liquid with a pronounced odour like parsley; 

 d 15 o 0,9052; «d — 62°io / ; acid no. 1,3; ester no. 7,3; ester no. after 

 acetylation 51,0. The solubility in 90 per cent, alcohol is not 

 complete, and even with 10 vol. alcohol only a very cloudy solution is 

 obtained; in 95 per cent, alcohol the oil makes first of all a clear 

 solution, but when more than 2 vol. are added opalescence occurs owing 

 to separation of paraffin. 



A test for phellandrene which we suspected to find in the oil had 

 a negative result. It appears from the ester and acetylation numbers 

 that the oil contains only very small quantities of ester -like and 

 alcoholic constituents. 



A second sample of oil from the same species, which we received 

 a short time ago, had also the characteristic parsley-like odour of the 

 former oil, but differed considerably from the latter in respect of 

 specific gravity and rotation, and showed in these properties a remark- 

 able agreement with the oil of Evodia simplex^). The constants were 

 as follows: d 15 o 0,9708; « D — i9°2o'; acid no. 1,1 ; ester no. 8,7; 

 ester no. after acetylation 33,0. The solubility of this oil was also 



x ) Comp. Report October 1906, 82. 



