— i5i — 



of terpenes in particular, after which he describes in detail the various 

 modes of preparing essential oils as well as allied products, such as 

 powders, soaps, extraits, etc. 



In the second, and larger part of the book, Hubert discusses the 

 principal colonial products which contain essential oil. In the case of 

 almost every one of these he gives a historical survey and a short 

 botanical description of the original plant, after which he proceeds to 

 discuss its geographical di^tributi >n and cultivation, the collection of the 

 drug, its preliminary preparation and its shipment. He also deals with 

 the preparation, properties, prices and adulterations of the oil, and 

 gives occasional prescriptions for the making of perfumes, sachets, etc. 

 Generally speaking, but little attention is given to the testing of the 

 oils. Numerous good illustrations help considerably towards the elu- 

 cidation of the text, and the book, which has evidently been written 

 in a painstaking manner, is likely successfully to fulfil its purpose of 

 serving as a guide for the colonist. 



It is not our intention to dwell on occasional inaccuracies which 

 have slipped in here and there in the description of the properties 

 of oils, as these details, as already stated, play but a subordinate 

 part in the book. But we cannot refrain from mentioning another 

 matter which we have observed while perusing the volume. It is a 

 striking coincidence that, although M. Hubert repeatedly quotes his 

 sources of information, he does not so much as mention the name 

 of the book The Volatile Oils, written by Gildemeister and Hoffmann 

 under our auspices, although this book has rendered M. Hubert ex- 

 cellent services in the compilation of his own work. The historical 

 introductions to the various arti< les in particular, have mostly been appro- 

 priated almost sentence by sentence from the French Edition of The 

 Volatile Oils. It is true that the sentences have mostly been re-cast 

 slightly and that here and there one has been omitted, but the source 

 is quite evident. In order to prove our contention we quote below some 

 pages in which the ''borrowing" is particularly obvious, the correspond- 

 ing pages in Gildemeister's and Hoffmann's book (French Edition) being 

 added in brackets: 207 to 209 (442 to 444), 237 (595), 242 (310), 

 2 52, 253 (391, 392), 291 (636), 306 (538), 424 (411), 439, 440 

 (553 .to 556), 446 (558), 457 (566). 



It is surely very singular that so copious a use of a source of information 

 should have remained unadmitted. We are of course pleased when the merit 

 of our publications is recognised by their being quoted in other books, but 

 we have a right to expect that where this is done the source of origin shall 

 be acknowledged, inaccordance with the general literary custom. 



A book published by J. H. de Bussy of Amsterdam, entitled Nieuw 

 Plantkundig Woordenboek voor Nederlandsch- Indie, by F. S. A. de Clercq 



