— 129 — 



shall be glad to receive trial orders as soon as possible, as our stock 

 is not likely to last very long. Next year we intend to enlarge our 

 cultivations considerably. 



In our last two Reports x ) we mentioned that Rocques recommended 

 Legal's test for the detection of wormwood oil in liqueurs. M. L. Cuniasse, 

 who had already previously been investigating the same question has 

 meanwhile written to us stating that he was the first who proposed 

 this test for the same purpose, his suggestion having been published 

 in 1907 2 ). We willingly take this opportunity of calling attention to 

 the claim of priority made by M. Cuniasse. 



For the purpose of judging the harmfulness of an absinthe liqueur, 

 reference has been made, inter alia, to the degree of turbidity which 

 ensues when absinthe is diluted with water. As already reported by 

 us two years ago, Sangle-Ferriere and Cuniasse 3 ) have shown by ex- 

 periments that the degree of turbidity affords no clue to the direct 

 noxiousness of the liqueurs, but S. P. Krepieff 4 ), in an inaugural 

 dissertation, has again attempted to justify the diaphanometric method. 

 His exposition is a little wanting in clearness, because the explanations 

 given in his text do not always harmonise with the tables supplied 

 by him. But it is fair to the author to add that his figures are 

 only intended as a contribution to the problem, and that he 

 expressly states that a final judgment can only be formed after 

 new and more extensive experiments. We do not believe that the 

 author's investig ations will be able to rehabilitate this rather insignif- 

 icant method. 



Ylang Ylang Oil. Business in this article continues to drag 

 greatly, and although our "Sartorius" brand has continued to enjoy a 

 normal demand, it is evident from the numerous offers that- the out- 

 put no longer stands in a proper relation to the requirements. The 

 competition of the Reunion oil especially is assuming more and more 

 serious proportions, for according to the official statistics to hand the 

 shipments in the first half of 1909 reached not less than 1391 kilos, 

 which was 476 kilos in excess of those of the corresponding period 

 of 1908, but even more than the total of last year's exports. 



We are informed that ylang ylang plantations have also been 

 laid down lately on the island of Nossi Be, which belongs to Mada- 



*) Report November 1908, 127; April 1909, 92. 



2 ) Bull. Soc. Chim. IV. 1 (1907), 279. Also compare Report April 1907, 94. 



3 ) Journ. dePharm. et Chim. VI. 25 (1907), 428; Report October 1907, 98. 



4 ) Essais diaphanoscopiques de la liqueur dite Absinthe et de ses imitations. 

 Inaug. Diss., Geneva 1908. 



