Commercial and scientific notes on essential oils. 33 



the botanical characteristics, the cultivation, the diseases and the reaping of pepper- 

 mint, but hardly anything of novelty to our readers. We therefore content ourselves 

 with this reference. 



Peppermint Oil, Japanese. — Final statistics concerning the exports of pepper- 

 mint oil and menthol in the past year have now been published. According to these 

 statistics the weights and values- of the last three years were the following: — 





1918 



1919 



1920 



peppermint oil kin 



214635 



409199 



313630 



value in yen 



549 716 



1307113 



1812366 



menthol kin 



237 311 



239973 



370470 



value in yen 



1544307 



2546898 



5489815 



Thanks to the sustained support by the banks the numerous holders of large and 

 dearly-bought stores in Japan, commanding more or less substantial capital, have for 

 a long time been able to resist any price reduction with some success. In the main 

 trade centres of Europe, especially in London, large stores of the oil remained in the 

 hands of speculators, and thus it came about that people could occasionally buy more 

 profitably in London or in Hamburg than in the country of production. The actually- 

 existing high prices are in any case to be considered artificial. There are hardly any 

 buyers in Japan; yet the holders of oil stock will not yield. Somewhat reduced prices 

 are accepted only for postponed shipment. The still unsold stores are estimated by 

 our experts at about 1700 cases of peppermint oil and the same quantity of menthol. 

 Of these 800 cases of peppermint oil and 500 cases of menthol are reported to be in 

 the hands of a single speculator who is not inclined, it is said, to part with his stock 

 at present prices which may be attributed to the want of demand. Some day a reversion 

 will have to set in, nevertheless. It is satisfactory that the stocks which, a few months 

 ago already, were in the hands of some Hamburg profiteer firms of dubious character, 

 who opposed any reduction in prices, have now passed into the consumers hands. 

 A nice bit of money has been lost over these transactions! 



According to Utz 1 ) peppermint oil gives the following colour reactions. A mixture 

 of 1 g. of peppermint oil with 5 cc. of absolute alcohol, a few drops of furfural and 

 a few cc. of hydrochloric acid (dl.9) turns dark bluish-green when heated. When we 

 replace the absolute alcohol of the mixture by glacial acetic acid, the red colour 

 appears already in the cold and turns more intense on heating. 1 cc. of peppermint 

 oil and 5 cc. of absolute alcohol and stannous chloride gave no colour change in the 

 cold. On heating the mixture, however, a beautiful red colour became apparent, reminding 

 of the sesame oil reaction of Baudouin and Soltsien 2 ). The same phenomenon was 

 observed when glacial acetic acid was substituted for absolute alcohol in the mixture. 



Utz points out at the end of his communication that this reaction is not of any 

 decisive importance. 



We should ourselves like to emphasise once more, that such colour reactions 

 are useless for the evaluation of essential oils. 



According to Heinz 3 ) peppermint oil stimulates the activity of the cells of the 

 liver into an increased production of gall. Observations made on fair-sized animals, 

 brings little more than a repetition and confirmation of formerly established facts. 



l ) Deutsche Parf. Ztg. 6 (1920), 208. — 2 ) Chem. Revue Fett- u. Harzind. 13 (1906), 138. — 3 ) Tfiernp. 

 Ho/Mmnatsh. ?A (1920), 356. 



