— 105 — 



Copaiba balsam. In The Chemist and Druggist 1 ) attention 

 is called to the adulterations of copaiba balsam which occur frequently, 

 owing to the high prices. Whilst gurjun balsam is no longer used 

 as an adulterant because it is too readily detected, it appears 

 that in recent times the African copaiba balsam is used more and 

 more for that purpose. At any rate, it is a remarkable fact 

 that copaiba balsam oil, for which the British Pharmacopoeia has 

 fixed «d — 1 4 to — 1 7 3c/ as limits of value (we fixed — 7 to — 35°), 

 has in the last few years become less and less Isevorotatory ( — 4 

 to — 5 have been observed). This behaviour would be explained 

 by an admixture of African copaiba balsam. Balsams, whose oil rotates 

 below — 7 , should be rejected as untrustworthy. 



With reference to these statements, Umney and Bennett 2 ) point 

 out that it is desirable to determine a maximum content of resin 

 acids, in order to exclude adulterations with colophony, but at the 

 same time to pay attention to the percentage content of volatile oil, 

 which should be at most 5O°/ . For the rotation of the oil, the 

 authors propose — 5° to — 25°as limits of value. 



Coumarin. C. E. Bradley 3 ) reports on the presence of coumarin 

 in Achlys triphylla. This plant, a Berberidacea, grows in large quantities 

 in the pine forests on the Pacific coast of North America, to the 

 West of the Cascade Mountains, and thriving especially in shady, 

 swampy places, it forms there with its broad leaves a wide green 

 carpet over extensive areas. Its common name is "wild vanilla". The 

 young plants appear in April, and possess an extremely pleasant odour, 

 particularly when quite young. After several unsuccessful attempts to 

 isolate the odoriferous substance by distillation with steam, the author 

 obtained, on extracting the leaves with ether, crystals of the m. p. 65 , 

 which after further purification and recrystallisation from hot water, 

 melted at 67 , and were found to ^e^coumarin. 



Linalyl acetate. In view %i 'the' high prices of bergamot oil, 

 we would not fail to call attention to* this speciality of ours, which 

 has gained a constantly increasing number of admirers in the better- 

 class perfumery trade. If it is taken into consideration that our 

 product shows an ester-content of 8o°/ , against 35 to 38°/ in natural 

 begamot oil, it is obvious that its use at the present market prices 

 of bergamot oil is extremely advantageous. Furthermore the absolute 

 freedom from colour is a further distinct advantage of linalyl acetate. 



Menthol. With regard to this article, we can only refer to what 

 we said on page 7 1 on the subject of Japanese peppermint oil. But 



*) Chemist and Druggist 70 (1907), 521. 



2 ) Ibidem 70 (1907), 569. 



3 ) Joum. Amer. chem. Soc. 29 (1907), 606. 



