— 9 2 — 



ture, however, to make any final pronouncement on this subject until 

 the whole subject of C. Martini — of which presumably still other 

 varieties are extant — has been cleared up. 



It is also interesting to refer to the etymology of the words Motia 

 and Sofia. The former means "like a pearl" — that is to say, valuable; 

 the latter means "small" — or "of slight value". It is Burkill's intention 

 to t continue his studies on these grasses. 



Patchouli Oil. In our last November Report 1 ) we gave par- 

 ticulars of investigations made by de Jong at Buitenzorg on Singapore 

 patchouli leaves for the purpose of obtaining more accurate information 

 as to the oil-content of the leaves in different stages of development. 

 More recently de Jong has made similar investigations with Java pat- 

 chouli leaves. 2 ) The latter investigations led to results similar to 

 those obtained with Singapore leaves; the oil-content increases up to 

 the third pair of leaves counting from the top of the branch, and 

 then gradually decreases. 



The comparative distillations which de Jong has carried out on 

 the present occasion with material which had been submitted to various 

 kinds of preliminary treatment are of particular interest. Both Java 

 and Singapore leaves were employed. In one experiment de Jong 

 used quite fresh leaves; in another dried leaves; in a third fermented 

 leaves; the quantity being the same in every case, calculated for green 

 material. The stalks had been removed before the experiment, as 

 they contain only little oil. The leaves were dried in shady places, 

 being spread out in a layer 5 cm. high, which was turned over daily 

 until the leaves were quite dry and brittle. For the purpose of fer- 

 mentation de Jong first half-dried the leaves and then placed them 

 on layers forming a heap, which was covered with bamboo matting 

 (Tetampd), weighed down with stones. The leaves were mixed 

 together every day in order that the fermentation might proceed as 

 uniformly as possible. The process was continued until the temper- 

 ature inside the mass of leaves did not exceed that of the surround- 

 ing atmosphere. According to the degree of moisture of the leaves 

 the maximum temperature observed was from 35 to 5 2°. A mouldy 

 odour was usually observed, but this was removed by spreading out 

 the leaves at the end of the fermentation process and only distilling 

 them a few days later. 



The distillation was carried out by steam (3 to 4 atmospheres). 

 In every case the leaves, after being distilled, were freed from water 

 by pressure, dried, and again distilled. The quantity of oil obtained 

 from green leaves was very much smaller than that from dried and 



^Report November 1908, 95. 



2 ) Teysmannia 1909. From a copy kindly sent to us. 



