— i3i — 



Bacon has also instituted experiments for obtaining ylang ylang 

 oil by extraction with the assistance of various volatile solvents, among 

 which petroleum ether gave the best results. The yield was from 

 0,7 to 1,0% °* an oil of very dark colour, containing fairly large 

 proportions of resin. Undiluted, the oil had neither a particularly 

 agreeable, nor even a powerful, odour, but -when it was much diluted 

 the perfume of the flower was clearly apparent. It had the following 



30° 



constants: d^- 0,940, n D3oo 1,4920, ester no. 135, ditto after acetyl- 

 ation 208. It will be seen that these properties agree with those of 

 first-grade distilled oils, and the slight difference in the odour of 

 extracted oil as compared with the natural article is ascribed to the 

 presence of small proportions of unknown compounds which are readily 

 decomposed by heat. The extracted oil is also said to have this 

 advantage that it cannot be imitated synthetically, and it is therefore 

 possible that it may command much higher prices than distilled oil. 

 When the extracted oil was shaken with water not inconsiderable 

 quantities of resin separated out, which possessed the characteristic 

 flower odour, while the residual oil assumed an odour of p-cresol 

 methyl ether. 



Zedoary Root Oil. According to statements by Bacon 1 ) the 

 parent plant of this oil, Curcuma zedoaria Rose, grows abundantly 

 in the neighbourhood of Manila. 100 kilos of the root of this 

 shrub yielded 65 g. (0,065 %) °f °^» as we ^ as 4° £• °* a we ^ 

 crystallising volatile solid body. The oil was deep bluish -green 

 and possessed an agreeable odour faintly reminding of camphor. 



30° 



d^ 0,933; n D3o° M920; probably inactive; in any case «p 300 not 

 exceeding -f- 1,5°; owing to the dark colour an exact reading was im- 

 possible. It dissolved readily in 2 vols, and more of 80 per cent, 

 alcohol. When the parts with the lowest b. p. were distilled in vacuo 

 the camphor-like odour, which is probably due to the presence of 

 cineol, was lost, and its place taken by a true flower-odour. A more 

 thorough examination of the oil is to be made later on. 



The properties of this distillate agree closely with those which, 

 up to the present, have been found with zedoary root oil 2 ). The 

 cineol - content of the oil was proved with certainty many years ago 

 by ourselves 3 ). 



1 ) Philippine Journ. of Sc. 4 (1909), A, 132. 



2 ) Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, p. 312. 

 8 ) Report October 1890, 67. 



