— 48 — t 



crop of the winter from 1911/12, which is said to have amounted to about 

 200 000 bales, the present estimate certainly appears to be moderate, and 

 as a result the prices began to tighten in July, while apart from a passing 

 dulness which has manifested itself during the past few weeks, a firm 

 tendency has ruled throughout. As there are no heavy stocks in the 

 principal clove-centres, and as moreover a strong demand is expected 

 from Bombay on account of the favourable outlook for the Indian harvest, 

 an important turnover in cloves at rising prices is prophesied for the next 

 few months. We are of course unable to assume any responsibility for 

 these reports, and must leave it entirely to our friends' judgment whether 

 or not they will now cover their requirements. In any case we have 

 considerable supplies at our disposal and for the present we are still 

 able to offer at advantageous prices even for distant delivery. Clove 

 stems have remained dear, and were it not that our industry still holds 

 important stocks, the prices of clove stem oil would have risen already. 

 On the present occasion no statistical data relating to the clove market 

 are available. 



A form of adulteration of clove oil never before observed has lately 

 been discovered in our laboratory. The sample in question, which had 

 been submitted to our opinion from England, showed the following con- 

 stants: di 5 o 1,0509, « D + 0°30\ eugenol content 82 p. c, sol. in 1,5 vols. 

 70 p. c. alcohol; with more than 3 vols, cloudiness. It was possible that 

 the imperfect solubility might be connected with the origin of the oil, 

 inasmuch as similar behaviour in this respect has been observed by us 

 in oils from Amboyna and Seychelles cloves 1 ). But the fact that the 

 sample was dextrorotatory, which is quite abnormal in clove oil, was very 

 suspicious. Another peculiar feature was the optical behaviour of the 

 non-phenols, which had remained behind after the oil had been treated 

 with 3 p. c. soda liquor. It was to be expected that these residual non- 

 phenols would be considerably more dextrorotatory than the original oil : 

 as a matter of fact, singularly enough, they were laevorotatory (« D — 1 ° 15'). 

 These contradictions, however, were soon explained. When the oil was 

 treated with steam a residue of 10 p. c. was left behind, which from its 

 properties (sap. v. 179, sol. in 90 p. c. alcohol, insol. in light petroleum), 

 betrayed itself as castor oil. Castor oil being dextrorotatory, the reason H 

 of the dextrorotation of the clove oil sample was disclosed, as was also 

 the reason why, this notwithstanding, the non-phenols were laevorotatory. 

 For when the clove oil was treated with soda liquor part of the castor 

 oil had been removed by saponification along with the eugenol, and, that 

 being so, the normal laevorotation of the non-phenols again found ex- 

 pression. Needless to say, this clove oil had been sold very cheaply! 



!) Beport April 1912, 57. 



