72 



Report of Schimmel $ Co. April 1913. 



In Burma the oil is used as a household remedy for the cure of almost every 

 complaint. It is asserted to possess antiseptic properties. 



In connection with the above we may here refer briefly to a few samples of 

 lemongrass oil which have been received by us from Formosa and Celebes, which 

 were also noteworthy for their poor degree of solubility: — 



FORMOSA OILS. 







Aldehyd 



^-content 





di5o 



«D 



Bisulphite 

 method. 



Sulphite 

 method. 





0,9139 



+ 0° 



— 



75 p.c. 



Sol. in 2,5 vol. 70 p.c. ale. a. m. Dilute sol. opal. 



0,8821 



— 0°8' 



76 p.c. 



66 „ 



Sol. in absol. ale. to 1 vol., afterw. turb. 



0,8654 



— 0°4' 



54 „ 



50 „ 



Sol. in 95 p.c. ale. to 0,5 vol., afterw. turb. 



0,8664 



— 0°4' 



56 „ 



53 „ 



Sol. in 95 p.c. ale. to 0,5 vol., afterw. turb. 



0,8836 



— 0°6' 



69 „ 



65 „ 



Sol. in absol. ale. to 1 vol., afterw. turb. 



0,8799 | — 0°15' | 67 p.c. 



CELEBES OIL. 



63 p.c | Even in absol. ale. only clearly sol. at first. 



It is remarkable that with one single exception, in which the specific gravity is 

 strikingly high, these oils are all very light, and that almost all of them are poor in 

 citral. This, however, is a peculiarity which is often observed in these distillates, 

 which appear in commerce under the generic name of „West Indian lemongrass oils" 1 ). 



Two lemongrass oils from the island of Mayotta, described by the firm of Roure- 

 Bertrand Fils 2 ), may here be mentioned. Their characters were as follow: di 5 o 0,9072 

 and 0,8877, « D — 0° 4' and —0° 6', aldehyde content (estimated by the bisulphite method) 

 75,5 and 78 p. c. The oils were not soluble in 90 p. c. alcohol, and even with 96 p. c. 

 alcohol they only gave a clear solution at the beginning. It follows that they belong 

 to the group of sparingly-soluble so-called West Indian lemongrass oils. 



Limette Oil. We have succeeded in securing a few parcels, but only by paying 

 high prices. These high values are due on the one hand to the advance in Sicilian 

 essences and on the other to the drought from which (so our West-Indian purveyor 

 informs us) the producing districts have suffered severely. 



It is generally known that distilled limette oil is quite different from the hand- 

 expressed oil (hand-pressed lime oil) 3 ), the first-named oil having a disagreeable, 

 turpentine-like odour, which is no longer reminiscent of citral. H. A. Tempany and 

 N. Greenhalgh 4 ), who hav# investigated the matter, are of opinion that the difference 

 is caused by the loss, during the process of distillation, of part of the lowest- and 

 highest-boiling fractions. They distilled hand-expressed oils with steam, and obtained 

 an oil with the characteristic turpentine-like odour of the distilled oil of commerce. 

 The highest-boiling fractions of the hand-expressed oil contain a blue fluorescent, 

 crystalline body (perhaps methyl anthranilate), which is absent from the distilled oil. 



*) The first sparingly-soluble lemongrass oils placed upon the market came from the West Indies. — 

 -) Berichte von Boure - Bertrand Fils, October 1912, 75. — 3 ) Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, 

 1 st ed., p. 477. — 4 ) West Indian Bulletin 12 (1912), 498. 



