- 24 - < 



said to hold out any inducement to buy. Owing to the drought of last 

 year the development of the roots had suffered greatly, and we have found 

 ourselves compelled to list the new distillate at an increased price, not- 

 withstanding which our profit oh this oil is very moderate. 



Asafoetida Oil. In our last Beport, p. 28 we commented upon the 

 interesting study on Asa fcetida by Harrison and Self. Since then the 

 same authors have examined a further series of asafoetida samples 1 ). A 

 few of these contained heavy admixtures of gypsum. The characters 

 recorded for the oils distilled from the, in part unadulterated, samples are 

 set forth in table form. The oil-yield ranged from 4,6 to 19,6 p. c. : d 0,918 

 to 0,993, a D — H043' to +10° 58', n D20O 1,4951 to 1,5259; percentage of 

 sulphur in the oil 8,9 to 31,4. 



Ammoniacum, galbanum, and elemi being known adulterants of asa- 

 foetida, Harrison and Self have distilled the oils from these resins. The 

 oil-yield of ammoniacum was 0,08 to 0,20 p. c, hence the addition of this 

 gum-resin to asafoetida would lower the oil-yield of the product. But as 

 the oil-content of unadulterated asafoetida varies, the determination of the 

 oil-yield is of little value in the evaluation of asafoetida. Two samples of 

 galbanum yielded respectively 10,3 and 11,4 p. c. of oil: d 0,908 and 0,955, 

 <* D + 15° 14' and +7° 30', n D20O 1,4856 and 1,4863. A sample of elemi 

 yielded 9,6 p. c. oil: d 0,904, « D + 38°22', n D20O 1,4869. 



Oil of BacMousia citriodora, see Citral under Chemical Preparations 

 and Drugs. 



Oil of Sweet Basil. This oil, which several years ago was so greatly 

 in request, has remained very neglected throughout the summer, and our 

 experience that this article is by no means so popular in the perfumery- 

 and soap-industries now as it used to be has again been confirmed during 

 the past few months. But as no parcels of importance have come to 

 hand, either from Java or from Reunion, the price has been maintained 

 at the old level. 



The article on the essential oils of the different varieties of Basilicum, 

 which appeared in the Berichte of Roure-Bertrand Fils (October 1910, 38; 

 comp. Beport April 1911, 22) has recently been published by G. Laloue 

 in the Bulletin de la Societe chimique [IV. 11 (1912), 491]. 



Bay Oil continues to be very scarce indeed and at times we only 

 succeeded through the assistance of our New York branch in procuring a 

 sufficient supply. Moreover, the quality very often left something to be 

 desired; and it is therefore a source of increasing regret for us that owing 

 to the lack of leaves suitable for shipment to Europe we still remain 

 dependent upon the West-Indian distillates. All our efforts to procure 



*) Pharmaceutical Journ. 89 (1912), 139; Chemist and Druggist 81 (1912), 202, 204. 



