32 Report of Schimmel £j Co. 1 921 . 



to offer our own distillate of patchouli oil. This fact will be welcomed by all con- 

 noisseurs, since the oils from abroad are known not to satisfy more than the most 

 moderate requirements as to finesse and intensity of the odour. 



Pennyroyal Oil. — G. M. Beringer 1 ) reports on a commercial product of pennyroyal 

 oil (d 0.884) which had been adulterated with 50 per cent, of alcohol. 



Peppermint Oil, American. — For many months the well-situated planters and 

 buyers of American peppermint oil in the west of America would not listen to moderate 

 prices. Finally, however, a tendency towards decline set in which has not come to 

 a stop yet. Already in November 1920 one could occasionally meet with smaller 

 speculators ready to sell, although the market was still kept at 6 dollars per lb., 

 rightly recognising that collapse was approaching. They went down to 5 dollars. 

 Since then the market price has gradually sunk to 2.75 dollars per lb., and one can 

 easily make an estimate of the sums which have been lost over this fall of 50 per cent. 

 Only a few superior assortments were able to maintain higher quotations. Among 

 the stored supplies, the existence of which was only revealed by the collapse of the 

 market, there are said to have been consignments which must have cost the producer 

 at least six dollars per lb. 



For the market over here even the present price is not quite suitable yet once 

 more to draw attention to the American oil without which we have had to do for 

 nearly 4 years. For the present we shall be able to content ourselves with the 

 excellent sorts prepared from Japanese peppermint oil, for the improvement of which 

 we are continuously striving. 



The yield of the peppermint harvest of the year 1920 will, it is estimated 2 ), be 

 by about 30 or 35 per cent, larger than that of the preceding year. In 1919 some* 

 12000 to 13000 acres under cultivation gave 260000 lbs. of oil. For the year 1920 

 we might, therefore, reckon on 351 000 lbs. of oil. The annual consumption of pepper- 

 mint oil amounts to from 300000 to 400000 lbs. 



The formation of a trust and the fixation of a definite price were proposed at 

 a meeting of the American peppermint planters of the United States. No agreements 

 as to prices were arrived at, and the proposal was not accepted. 



Peppermint Oil, Chinese. — So far there have been few investigations of Chinese 

 peppermint oil 3 ). An oil recently examined by Shinosaki 4 ) gave the following con- , 

 stants: — d 25 o 0.9091; « — 35° (in chloroform); n D25 o 1.4627; S.V. 29; E.V. after acetylation 

 233; free alcohol (calc. as menthol) 70.57 per cent.; bound alcohol (calc. as menthol) 

 8.08 per cent. ; menthone 12.88 per cent. The oil was light-brown in colour and had 

 a disagreeable smell and a bitter taste. 



Peppermint Oil, Italian. — According to an article by E. C. Bellini 5 ) the pepper- 

 mint plant is cultivated in Italy especially in the provinces of Turin (near Pancalieri, 

 Vigone, Ceretto di Carignano and Lombriasco) and in the province of Padua, on an 

 area of 100 or 110 hectares. The article mentioned brings a fairly-general description of 



x ) American. Journ. Pharm. 92 (1920), 460. — -') Industrie- u. Handelszeituny, 22. IX. 1920, p. 1474. — 

 s ) Cf. Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, 2 nd ed., vol. Ill, p. 549. — *) Journ. chem. Ind., Tokyo 

 22 (1919), 458. From Bull. Roure-Bertrand Fils, April 1920, 124. — 5 ) La Revista Ital. delle Essenze e Profumi. 

 From La Parfum. Francaise 2 (1920), 12. 



