128 



Notes on Scientific Research in the Domain 

 of the Essential Oils. 



General. 



Part 12 of the Zeitschrift fur das Landwirtschaftliche Versuchswesen (1911) 

 contains an article by W. Mitlacher on experiments in the cultivation of 

 medicinal plants to which we have already referred in our Report of 

 April 1911, p. 147. A more detailed second edition of this work has ap- 

 peared in the Zeitschrift des allgemeinen osterreichischen Apotheker-Vereins 

 [Vol. 50 (1912), p. 347, 357, 367, 375, 383, 391, 399, 409]. 



With the object of determining the solubility of water in essential oils, 

 J. C. Umney and S. W. Bunker 1 ) have shaken up with water a number of 

 essential oils, the sp. gr. and the refractive index being determined both 

 before and after the treatment. The percentage of water contained in the 

 oil may be readily calculated from the difference of the two values above 

 referred to. A more accurate result is obtained by passing steam into 

 the oil-samples and by determining the refraction and the sp. gr. before 

 and after this manipulation. Every decrease in the index of refraction by 

 0,0001 indicates the presence of 0,07 to 0,08% water. Generally speaking, 

 the oils which consist of terpenes, oxides, or ketones absorb no water, 

 whereas distillates containing alcohols or phenols absorb water fairly 

 freely. The values ascertained by the authors for the principal oils are 

 reproduced in the table (p. 129). 



Bibliography. 



W. Miiller 2 ) has published an article on progress in the domain of the 

 chemistry of the terpenes and odoriferous substances. 



P. Jean card and C. Satie deal in the Revue generate de chimie pure 

 et appliquee [Vol. 15 (1912), p. 289] with the new work published in the 

 year 1911 in the domain of the chemistry of perfumery. 



The literature of the chemistry of volatile oils and odoriferous sub- 

 stances has been enriched by a new work, namely, E. Charabot's "Les 

 principes odorantsdes vegetaux (Methodes de dosage, a" extraction, d' 'identification)" 

 (Paris, 1912, pp. 388). The author, in 9 chapters, deals with the majority 



*) Perfum. and Essent. Oil Record 3 (1912), 101, 197. 



2 ) Fortschritte der Chemie, Physik und physik. Chemie 6 (1912), 45. 



