§ — 37 — 



hands while the distillation was still proceeding. Our impression is that 

 the new crop will have no weakening effect upon the market. 



Cinnamomum Oils. The Cinnamomum species of Australia have 

 been described by R. T. Baker in Vol. 13 of the Australian Association for 

 the Advancement of Science (May 1, 1912) 1 ). As we referred to a lecture 

 by Baker on the same subject in our Report of April 1911 (p. 38) a mere 

 reference to the publication will here suffice. 



Oil of Cinnamomum glanduliferum. In our Report of October 1910, 

 p. 145, we stated that R. S. Pearson had obtained from the leaves of 

 Cinnamomum glanduliferum, Meissn. (N. O. Lauracese), known as "Nepal 

 sassafras", or "Nepal camphor tree", a camphor which may probably be 

 regarded as identical with the Japanese commercial product. On the 

 other hand, according to S. S. Pickles 2 ), the oil distilled from the wood 

 of the plant contains none, or scarcely any, ketones. Pickles' distilling 

 material consisted of billets of heartwood free from bark. The ground 

 wood yielded 2,95 p. c. oil (calculation based upon the wood before 

 grinding), or 4,16 p. c. (calculation based upon the ground wood), the 

 difference being due to the fact that the wood had lost moisture during 

 the process of grinding. The oil constitutes a pale yellow liquid, with 

 a well-defined odour of safrol, with a suggestion of anise: d§§ 1,1033, 

 «D2oo — 0°4', sap. v. 2,8, ester v. after acet. 7,0, sol. in 5 vols, and 

 more 80 p. c. and in half its vol. 90 p. c. alcohol. Terpenes, acids, 

 alcohols, esters, aldehydes and ketones are either absent altogether or 

 occur only in very small proportions. The principal portion of the oil 

 boils between 245 and 280° and contains an abundance of safrol with 

 the following constants: m. p. 9°, di 5 o 1,1059, « D + 0. It was identified by 

 oxidation into piperonal (heliotropin), m. p. 37°, and from its a-nitrosite, 

 m. p. 130 to 131°. In a fraction melting between 152 and 157° (12 mm.), 

 Pickles detected myristicin, which he converted into dibromomyristicin 

 dibromide (m. p. 129°) and dibromomyristicin (m. p. 52°). The fraction 

 containing myristicin was heated with alcoholic potash in order to convert 

 the allyl- group into the propylene-group, and was afterwards oxidised 

 with potassium permanganate, when myristicinaldehyde (m. p. 130°) and 



•myristicinic acid (m. p. 212,3°) together with trimethylgallic acid (m. p. 167 

 „.,lo 160°) were formed. The trimethylgallic acid points to the presence of 

 elemicine in the fraction containing myristicine which was treated with 

 potash. It is therefore to be assumed that elemicine is a constituent of 

 the original oil. The other constituents of the oil are free palmitic acid 

 (m. p. 62,5°), a phenolic body, and a mixture of the esters of the lower 

 fatty acids. 



r ) From a copy kindly sent to us. 



2 ) Journ. chem. Soc. 101 (1912), 1433; Bull. Imp. Inst. 10 (1912), 298. 



