— 72 — 



A business-friend at Besancon has sent us, by way of a curiosity, 

 an oil of neroli distilled from orange-flowers gathered in the locality. 

 The small sample was of a bright brown colour and possessed a quite 

 agreeable, although not very fine aroma. Apart from a somewhat 

 high acid no., its constants were approximately normal: d^o 0,8780, 

 a D -J- 7° l 5', acid no. 6,1, ester no. 58,4 soluble in 1,3 vol. of 80 per 

 cent alcohol. When more alcohol was added, cloudiness ensued and 

 paraffin was separated. 



Nutmeg Oil. In the course of their investigations in the toxic 

 effects of nutmegs (referred to on page 114 of the present Report), 

 F. B. Power and A. H. Salway 1 ) also deal with the requirements 

 attached to essential oil of nutmeg in certain Pharmacopoeias. Of 

 this part of the paper we will only say that Power and Salway rightly 

 regard it as illogical that the German Pharmacopoeia should designate 

 essential oil from nutmegs by the name of Oleum Macidis, since by mace 

 oil is understood the oil of the nutmeg flower and since the identity 

 of the two oils has not been established. While the American Pharma- 

 copoeia originally required the oil to possess a specific gravity of 0,862 

 to 0,910 at 25 02 ) the Supplement to that Pharmacopoeia demands 

 0,884 to °>9 2 4 3 )- Power and Salway assume this to be a mistake 

 for 0,864. The requirement of the U. S. Ph. (obviously taken from 

 the British Pharmacopoeia), that from 2 to 3 cc. of nutmeg oil must 

 leave no crystalline residue upon evaporation is regarded as unpractical, 

 as normal distillates will often fail to satisfy this demand, because the 

 fractions of the oil with the highest b. p. contain myristic acid. Hence, 

 an oil which unconditionally conforms to the requirements of the U. S. Ph. 

 would consist only of the fractions possessing the lower boiling points. 



Orris Oil. We have received the following report from our cor- 

 respondents: — 



At the time of our October report on Florentine orris-root, the price was 

 62 to 63 marks cif. Hamburg for pickings, and 52 to 53 marks cif. Hamburg 

 for seconds. At that time we estimated the new crop at about 400 tons, but 

 as, owing to the favourable weather conditions prevailing, the supplies came in 

 during a longer period than usual, the actual crop amounts to about 500 tons. 



Add to this the remainder of old stocks at the end of 

 September 1908 „ 5 15 ,, 



The total supply available for the new campaign was 



therefore aboutioi5 tons. 



The shipments from the end of September 1908 to the 



end of February 1909 amounted to „ 265 „ 



leaving available at present (1st March 1909) about 750 tons. 



x ) Americ. Journ. Pharm. 80 (1908), 568. 

 2 ) Report April 1906, 75. 

 8 ) Report October 1907, 102. 



