74 Report of Schimmel s Co. April 1913. 



We take the following statistical data referring to Cayenne linaloe oil from an 

 American journal 1 ). The exports from French Guiana were as follows: — 



Wood. Oil. 



1909 265 tons, value 19 875 Fr. 12 497 kilos, value 312 400 Fr. 



1910 1262 „ „ 94 628 „ 22 066 „■ „ 551650 „ 



1911 209 „ „ 20175 „ 46 642 „ „ 1075 050 „ 



It would seem that in 1910 1000 tons of wood of another kind were erroneously 

 entered in the Customs' declaration as linaloe wood, which explains the abnormal 

 figures for that year. 



The statement on p. 78 of our last Report that linalool oxide occurs in Cayenne 

 linaloe oil is unfounded. We have actually proved the presence of the oxide in Mexican 

 linaloe oil only. 



Marjoram Oil, see Origanum Oil, p. 76. 



Matico Oil. This oil has been wanting for a considerable time, but a few weeks 

 ago we succeeded at last in discovering a parcel of leaves suitable for distillation, 

 with which we have been able to replenish our stock of matico oil. We wish to call 

 special attention to this fact, the more so because the newly-distilled oil is well worth 

 its price. We are in a position to supply quantities of some importance at advan- 

 tageous prices. 



Mentha Oils. Some time ago Prof. Tschirch, of Bern, sent us several species 

 of Mentha which had been collected and botanically identified by him, with the request 

 to determine whether or not any of them contained menthol. We thus had an oppor- 

 tunity of preparing oils from absolutely authentic and uniform samples of Mentha 

 aquatica, L. and M. silvestris, L, a matter which is of special interest because these 

 oils are little, if at all, known. Unfortunately the samples available of the separate 

 herbs were very small and we were therefore only able to prepare a few cc. of each 

 oil, so that the examination and determination of their physical constants was necessarily 

 very restricted. We give below, however, the results obtained: — 



Oil from Mentha aquatica, L. The dried herb, when distilled, afforded 0,8 p. c. of a 

 pale-yellow oil with a faint odour of mint; d i5 o 0,9553; « D -f-64°56'; n D20 o 1 ,48276 2 ). 



Oil from Mentha silvestris, L. Yield 0,9 p. c. Pale yellow; odour somewhat insipid, 

 faintly mint-like; d 15 o 0,9852; « D — 132°52'; n D20O 1,46856. We were unable to detect 

 menthol in either oil, but as only minute quantities of the oil were available we must 

 leave it an open question whether menthol is really totally absent. So much 'at any 

 rate is certain that the oils can only contain traces of it at the most. The same applies 

 to an oil prepared from Mentha viridis^ L. (yield 0,17 p. c; di 5 o 0,9512; « D — 52°5'). 



Oil of Mosla japonica. Nurayama and Nara 3 ) have discovered that the oil of 

 Mosla japonica. Maxim. (N. O. Labiatce) contains «-pinene in addition to its previously- 

 known constituents, carvacrol, and ^>-cymene 4 ). 



x ) Americ. Perfumer 7 (1912) 250. — 2 ) An oil of water mint, referred to in Gildemeister and Hoffmanns 

 work The Volatile Oils, 1 st ed., p. 654, gave quite different constants: d 15 o 0,880, a D - 2° 14'. — 3 ) Journ. pharm. 

 Soc. of Japan 1912; Chemist and Druggist 82 (1913), 19. — 4 ) Comp. Report April 1910, 78. 



