— 143 — 



chiefly from Reunion, are agitating with great zeal for the adoption 

 of the proposal, and it will be a matter of great interest to watch 

 whether it will be carried into law, or whether the French industries 

 which consume vanillin will successfully oppose a scheme under which, 

 in future, they would be deprived from the advantage of being able 

 to employ the most important odoriferous substance. 



In an article appearing in the Parfumerie Moderne quoted from 

 La Nature^) the alleged toxicity of vanillin known as vanillism is 

 discussed in connection with two cases which have recently been 

 made known, in which persons who had been working with vanillin 

 were affected by ulceration of the skin. The paragraph referred to 

 also states that it must not be forgotten that vanillin is a methyl ether 

 of protocatechuic aldehyde, and for this reason alone is not a harmless 

 body. In cristicism of this allegation we refer to a statement by 

 Kobert 2 ) who, in proof of the harmlessness of vanillin, mentions the 

 fact that in the vanillin-works of Haarmann & Reimer there has been 

 no instance in the course of 18 years of any of the hands contracting 

 illness through vanillin. 



Notes on recent research work concerning 

 terpenes and terpene derivatives. 



General. 



Under the title "Philippine Terpenes arid Essential Oils", Bacon 3 ) 

 has published a continuation of his previous work on the same subject 4 ). 

 His references to already known oils are discussed under the essential 

 oils in alphabetical sequence; our object here is to refer to the new 

 distillates prepared by him. 



Oil of Pittosporum resiniferum Hemsl. (Pittosporacese). This tree, 

 which is widely spread throughout the Philippines but does not 

 occur very frequently and grows at altitudes between 170 to 2500 ft. 

 (mostly about 500 ft.), produces fruits which is known on account 

 of its petroleumlike odour as "petroleum nuts". When a lighted match 

 is held close to it, even the green fruit burns with a bright flame. 

 An examination of the oil of petroleum nuts showed , as might 

 have been surmised from the odour, the presence of heptane and of 

 a dihydro- terpene. Heptane, as is well known, is almost the 



x ) La Parfumerie Moderne 2 (1909), 50. 



2 ) Kobert, Lehrbuch der Intoxikationen, 2. Ed. 1906, II. 143. 



3 ) Philippine Joura. of Sc. 4 (1909), A, 93 ff. 



4 ) Report November 1908, 128, 173. 



