114 Report of Schimmel .$ Co. April 1913. 



showed a little spurt, and at one time a basis-price of 65 c4i cif Hamburg was 

 reached. This figure, however, could not be maintained long, and finally the price 

 receded to about 62 c4i to 63 o#, with occasional opportunities of buying even 

 slightly below that limit. Although considerable parcels have been taken out of 

 the market, partly for France and partly for Germany, a certain quantity is still left, 

 but our farmers have been careful not to crack the stones of the remaining kernels, 

 because the kernels keep best when protected by their shells, as in that case 

 even prolonged storage does not deteriorate the kernels in any way. In view of 

 the good state of preservation of the balance of their stocks from the last crop, 

 the farmers in general have stuck to their prices, although certain concessions 

 have been made when one or the other of them happened to be short of cash. 

 At present the prices range from 61 o4t to 62 cM. 



Benzoin. Up to the present Styrax Benzoin, Dryand. has been regarded as the 

 parent plant of Siam-benzoin, but as a matter of fact (as we read in the Kew Bulletin) 1 ) 

 the drug is the product of Styrax benzoides, Craib. (N. 0. Styracacece), a. species which has 

 only recently been described 2 ). The tree is known to attain a height of from 36 to 45 feet, 

 with a circumference of 3 feet. The benzoin-resin is collected by making V-shaped 

 incisions in the bark, and flows into bamboo-receptacles affixed at the base of the 

 tree. These receptacles are emptied every few weeks. The collection of resin usually 

 takes place in the hot season. The resin is also frequently found in the bore-holes 

 made by insects and occasionally at the foot of the tree-trunk. 



A. Wichmann 3 ) describes two varieties of benzoin which occur in Eastern Bolivia. 

 They are there known by the names of Estoraque or Benjui, which signifies "storax" 

 or "benzoin". One variety of resin is derived from Styrax Pearcei, Perk. var. bolivianus, 

 Perk. It exudes from incisions in the bark of the tree, congeals on the bark and is then 

 removed. The sample examined by the author occurs in the form of irregular, oval, 

 flattened pieces, of a grey, brown or reddish-brown colour, partly sticking together. 

 Inside the sample yellowish to yellow almond-shaped pieces of varying size were 

 observable. The resin was brittle; it fractured with a lustre as of glass or porcelain, 

 and its odour reminded of benzoin and storax. It was completely soluble in alcohol 

 and chloroform, partially soluble in ether. When heated in a test-tube white vapours 

 were evolved, with an odour of benzoin and storax, and at the same time somewhat 

 acrid. The mean acid v. of two tests was 96,6; sap. v. 195,15. The resin contains 

 chiefly cinnamic and a little benzoic acid. The detection of the joint acids was most 

 successful under sublimation in rarified air, carried out according to R. Eder's 4 ) method. 

 The presence in the sample of vanillin (about 0,3 p. c.) was identified by the same 

 method. This substance was identified by the colour-tests with phloroglucinol- and 

 pyrogallol-hydrochloric acid among others. Wichmann also detected traces of an oil 

 with a benzaldehyde-odour as well as of benzoresineol and of a resinotannol which 

 shows no concordance with any of the hitherto-known resinotannols, and to which 

 Wichmann has given the name of boliresinotannol. As the available resin-sample 

 was very small it remains undecided whether styracin, benzene- and phenylpropyl 

 cinnamate (bodies which are present in Sumatra-benzoin, to which the Bolivian resin 

 bears a considerable resemblance) also occur in it. 



Another resin, also collected in Eastern Bolivia, at Chiquitos, was derived from 

 Styrax camporum, Pohl. Its colour was a brownish-yellow. As only traces of the 



*) Kew Bull. 1912, 391. — 2 ) Ibidem 267. — 3 ) Schweiz. Wochenschr. f. Chem. u. Pharm. 50 (1912), 237. — 

 4 ) R. Eder, On the Microsublimation of Alkaloids in a rarified atmosphere. Vierteljahrsschr. d. Zurich, natur- 

 forsch. Ges. 1912. 



