20 



perienced in Russia. The consumption of Russian oil of anise has of 

 course decreased very considerably since anethol, which was first 

 brought into commerce by us, has not only established itself in the 

 manufacture of liqueurs, but has also been introduced in almost all 

 modern Pharmacopoeias. 



Oil of Artemisia lavandulae folia. The oil of Artemisia 

 lavanduloefolia, a plant growing wild in the Tengger Mountains (Java), 

 has been examined by the Botanical Institute at Buitenzorg. 1 ) It had 

 ^26° 0,924 and rotation «d — 7 32'. On cooling, the bulk of it 

 solidified and the crystals which separated out in the congealing process 

 appear to possess the molecular formula C 12 H u 2 , but owing to the 

 lack of sufficient experimental material it was impossible to determine 

 the structure of the compound. 



Basil Oil. From the South of France we received two light 

 brown distillates, from the species known there as Basilic nain or 

 petit basilic {Ocimum minimum L.) which agree as to their constants 

 with the current commercial oils of German and French basil from 

 Grand basilic {Ocimum basilicum L.), while differing markedly from 

 the latter in their peculiar aromatic odour and their chemical com- 

 position. The two distillates in question contain about 1 4 °/ of eugenol, 

 which was identified by its benzoyl compound (m. p. 69 ). Linalool 

 also appears to be present, at least the phenol-free portions of the oil 

 had a distinct linalool odour. Whether the specimens also contain 

 methylchavicol, the principal constituent of the oils of commerce, we 

 were unable to determine, because the samples at our disposal were 

 too small. For this reason, too, our examination was necessarily 

 almost limited to the ascertainment of the general constants: — 





di 5 o 



an 



Acid 

 no. 



Ester 

 no. 



Phenol 

 cont. 



Solub 

 80 p. c. ale. 



ility in 



70 p. c. ale. 



I. 



2. 



0,9102 

 0,8901 



-n° 58' 

 -13° 36' 



5,3 



12,5 



h% 



in 0,6 vol. and more 

 in I vol. and more 



in 2 vol. with 10 vol. 



opal. 



in 2,5 vol., from 4,5 vol. 



upwards cloudiness. 



Bay Oil. The sale of this article is becoming slower and slower, 

 but as within the past few years the output in the West Indies of 

 cheap bay oil, mostly of doubtful quality, has decreased to a large 

 extent, there is no prospect of any over-production, and prices can 

 be maintained at their present level. It is a pity that so very little 

 interest is shown nowadays for that refreshing article, Bay rum. 



1 ) Jaarboek van het Departement van Landbouw in Nederlandsch-Indie 1907, 

 66. Batavia 1908. 



