- 7 8 - 



in sufficient quantities, but the prices remained at their present level. 

 Recently, it is true, large parcels of linaloe wood from Cayenne have 

 been offered in Europe on various occasions, but the unjustifiably 

 high prices have prevented their sale. 



Matico Oil. The matico oils which have been distilled lately 

 differ considerably as regards their properties from those produced 

 some years ago. The reason of this is that the raw material previ- 

 ously employed, viz., the leaves of Piper angustifolium Ruiz, et Pavon 

 is hardly to be found in commerce nowadays, and that its place 

 has been taken by the leaves of other species of Piper, as already 

 stated in our last Report 1 ). 



This fact lends additional interest to a paper by H. Thorns 2 ), read 

 before the 7 th International Congress for Applied Chemistry in London 

 on the subject of the examination of matico leaves and matico oil. 

 Thorns has endeavoured to distil matico oil from raw material of which 

 the botanical origin had been determined as accurately as possible. 

 In this attempt he derived valuable assistance from Prof. Gilg, of Berlin, 

 and Prof. Casimir de Candolle, of Geneva. For instance, a parcel of 

 leaves received from the province of Huanuco (Peru) was found upon 

 examination by C. de Candolle to contain the leaves of three different 

 species of Piper. The leaves of each species were distilled separately, 

 with the following result: — 



i. Piper camphoriferum C. D. C. This hitherto unknown species 

 of Piper was on this occasion described by C. de Candolle. The oil, 

 which was obtained to the extent of i,n°/ , possessed the following 

 properties: d 2 o° 9,500; «d -\- 19 21', One third of the oil could 

 be distilled over in vacuo at 25 mm. up to n 5 . In these fractions 

 camphor and borneol could be detected and were identified respect- 

 ively by the oxime and the urethane. There were also present in 

 the oil terpenes and a sesquiterpene. 



2. Piper lineatum Ruiz, et Pavon. This yielded 0,44 °/ essential 

 oil, the principal portion of which boiled between 1 40 and 1 6o° (15 mm.) 

 and possessed the following constants: d 0,958, «d -J- 8° 45'. Neither 

 camphor nor phenol-ethers could be detected. 



3. Piper angustifolium var. Ossanum C. D. C. The oil (yield 0,87%) 

 only contained traces of phenol- ethers. When* distilled in vacuo a camphor 

 mixture separated out which melted at 195 and presumably consisted 

 of camphor and borneol. 



From a new species of matico leaves received by Thorns, which 

 consisted chiefly of the leaves of Piper acutifolium Ruiz et Pavon, 

 var. subverbascifolium, mixed with isolated leaves of Piper molliconum Kunth 



x ) Report April 1909, 70. 



2 ) Apotheker Ztg. 24 (1909), 411. 





