70 



Report of Schimmel % Co. April 1913. 



we are believed to contemplate a military attack upon the little "back-block" line 

 from Puget to Theniers and Digne! The article in question brims over with these and 

 similar horrors! We have been much amused by it, especially because we have heard 

 that it was inspired by one of our competitors in the South of France. But how poor 

 an opinion must an author have of the intelligence of his readers that he should dare 

 to dish up such rubbish to them! Fortunately we have a better opinion of the people 

 of Barreme, to whom the establishment of our works has brought nothing but advan- 

 tage, and we know how they look upon such libels. M. Marcel Provence might have 

 spared himself this public exposure! 



We have recently isolated from French lavender oil of our own distilling a fraction 

 possessing the following constants: b. p. 89 to 90° (3 mm.), di 3 o 0,9008, « D + 0°49\ 

 "d2oo 1 ,49856. As these constants pointed to caryophyllene we hydrated the oil by 

 heating it with glacial acetic acid and sulphuric acid, and obtained caryophyllene alcohol, 

 m. p. 93 to 94,5°. The phenylurethane had m. p. 136 to 137° (from methyl alcohol). 

 This investigation demonstrates the presence of caryophyllene in lavender oil. 



Lemongrass Oil. It would seem that the result of the crop has been very 

 satisfactory, for there has certainly been no lack of offers. On the other hand these 

 offers encountered an animated demand, which prevented a slump in prices. According 

 to the supplies available and the demand of the moment the quotations fluctuated 

 between 3 d. and 4 d. per oz. and business is described as being very brisk. As is 

 shown by the statistical table at the foot of the paragraph, the shipments via Cochin 

 in 1912 exceeded those of 1911 by about 100000 lbs. The bulk was again shipped to 

 Marseilles, whence it is probably forwarded to Switzerland. A few small parcels have 

 also been received from Java, but as the solubility of this oil proved to be imperfect, 

 it only found buyers at a corresponding reduction in price. 



The shipments from Cochin have been distributed as follows: — 



Port of Destination 



Quai 



1911 



itity 



1912 



London 



Liverpool 



Havre 



11550 lbs. 



28 644 „ 

 70 191 „ 

 3 019,5 „ 

 17 473,5 „ 

 13 645,5 „ 



17 737,5 lbs. 

 54 450 „ 



Marseilles 



Bremen 



102 432 „ 

 2 194,5 „ 



Hamburg 



New York 



48 246 „ 

 23 826 „ 







Total : 



144 523,5 lbs. 



248 886 lbs. 



Parry 1 ) has examined numerous West Indian and Cochin lemongrass oils and has 

 found that in the course of time the citral value of these oils declines somewhat. 

 West Indian oils which had originally contained from 78 to 80 p. c. of citral, after some 

 years 1 keeping showed a drop of from 4 to 5 p. c. With East Indian oils the reduction 

 in the citral value takes place still more rapidly; shipments which contained from 75 

 to 78 p. c. of citral when they left Cochin only contained from 69 to 73 p. c. upon their 

 arrival in Paris and London two months afterwards. Parry is of opinion that the con- 

 stancy in direction of the reduction excludes the possibility of error in testing in the 



*) Perfuw. and Essent. Oil Record 4 (1913), 40. 



