44 Report of Schimmel § Co. 1921. 



Contrary to Grimal they could not find any dextrorotatory fraction. On the other 

 hand they ascertained the presence of Z-camphene, cineole and Z-camphor, in accordance 

 with Grimal. The freshly-distilled oil contained in addition 25.26 per cent, of ester, 

 calculated as CH3CO2C10H17, 30.64 per cent, of free alcohols, calculated as Ci Hi 8 O, 

 and probably menthol. 



Oil of Skimmia Laureola. — A sample of an essential oil 1 ) from Skimmia laureola. 

 Hook. f. had, according to Roure-Bertrand Fils 2 ), the following properties : — di 8 o 0.8931 ; 

 «diso -j-4°28'; acid v. 0; sap. v. 82.13; soluble in three volumes of 90 percent, alcohol 

 becoming turbid with more alcohol. The oil was light-green and smelled strongly of 

 laurel oil and a little of polei oil. 



Skimmia laureola (RutaceceJ, also known under the name limonia t is an evergreen 

 shrub of strong odour, up to 1.5 m. in height, which grows in India and Afghanistan 

 in the mountains at altitudes from 1500 to 3000 m. The bruised leaves exhale a strong 

 odour of oranges, and they are used in India both as a medicine and a spice and 

 incense. The soft wood of the plant is likewise of an aromatic smell. 



Star Anise Oil. — After continuous decline the marked has finally come to a low 

 level which is unprecendented in the history of this important article. If a price of 

 3 s. per lb. was extraordinarily low even before the war, prices have been going down 

 to 2/1 d. within the last weeks. Although that was partly due to baisse speculators, 

 extensive business has yet been done. The further development of the prices will in 

 the first instance depend upon the condition of the Chinese silver valuta. 

 1 



Thyme Oil. — E. M. Holmes 3 ) contributes a further paper on Spanish thyme oil which 

 is partly based upon the work of Parry and of Dorronsoro (confer page 81 of this Report). 

 There are in Spain not less than 30 different species of thyme, which are enumerated 

 in the Compendio de la Flora Espanola published by Bias Lazaro e Ibiza in the year 1907, 

 and at least two more species have been described since this publication. From the 

 fact that at least nine of these thirty-two species are known by popular names, we 

 may conclude that these nine species are of common occurrence and that they will 

 find manifold applications in the country. The Spanish thyme oil, which used to be 

 introduced into England in former years, contained more phenols (50 to 70 per cent, 

 chiefly carvacrol) than the French product. The author and H. Rubeck observed later 

 that of the Spanish species Thymus zygis, L. and T. vulgaris (both called tomillo salsero 

 in the country) contained considerable quantities of thymol. 



In order to determine the thymol contents in Spanish thyme oils H. Mastbaum 4 ) 

 extracts the phenols from the oil by means of 5 per cent, caustic soda and precipitates 

 them from the alkaline solution by acidulation. The carvacrol which remains liquid is 

 drained off from the crystallising thymol. The thymol contents is deduced from the 

 weight of the thymol crystals after pressing and drying. The thymol weighed not being 

 quite pure, whilst a little thymol remains in the carvacrol, Mastbaum supposes that 

 the one source of error would balance the other, and that the final result would be 

 sufficiently accurate for practical purposes. Whether or not the amount of thymol 

 which remains dissolved in the carvacrol is really of no consequence for the total 

 results of the analysis will probably have to be settled by further experiments. In our 



*) It is not mentioned from which parts of the plant the oil was obtained. — 2 ) Bull. Roure-Bertrand 

 Fils, October 1920, 34. — 3 ) Perfum. Record. 11 (1920), 338. — *) Chem. Ztg. 45 (1921), 19. 



