Commercial and scientific notes on essential oils. 45 



own experience the thymol can never quantitatively be separated by the method of 

 Mastbaum from mixtures of these phenols, unless the percentage of carvacrol should 

 happen to be very low. 



As regards Spanish thyme oils see page 81 of this Report. 



Turpentine Oil.— According to E. S. Oliver 1 ) British Columbia may have a 

 future as a country for producing turpentine, provided that the gathering of the tur- 

 pentine be no longer conducted in the old imperfect way, but according to an improved 

 method of his own. 



Oliver reports that the first ship which was sent from England to the American 

 coast carried a letter written by Queen Elizabeth's own hand giving instructions as 

 to the way of gathering tree resins. Applying this old method — the bark is cut and 

 the resin collected after the volatile constituents have been oxidised by contact with 

 the air — they had so far not been able to obtain more than 17 1 / 2 P er cent - of tne 

 possible yield of turpentine. Oliver recommends merely to bore a small hole into 

 the trunk and to apply a bottle close to the hole. In this way he would gain at least 

 33 per cent, of the turpentine. The tree would, moreover, not only be spared, but its 

 growth would even be stimulated 2 ). 



As regards the formation of resin Oliver has proposed a peculiar theory which 

 we will outline. According to this theory most pine trees have survived the cold 

 period which covered the northern hemisphere many years ago. The trees were only 

 enabled to survive this cold age by secreting a non-freezing substance such as tur- 

 pentine which surrounded and protected the cells. When the climate became warmer 

 once more, the turpentine had lost its proper and original significance (according to 

 Oliver) and formed merely a superflous assimilation-product, of which the tree wanted 

 to get rid again as quickly as possible. 



The resins obtained from Douglas firs in Columbia are utilised in manifold ways, 

 for instance, for the preparation of fine varnishes, of printers' ink and of snow-white 

 Burgundy pitch. The colour varies with the quality of the resin, from deep-red to 

 light-green and milky-white. The light-green is considered the finest kind. 



On Cortez Island, at the mouth of the Campbell River, some 60 English miles 

 from Vancouver, a small company has already started on the utilisation of resin. It 

 is estimated that 100 acres of Douglas firs will there give yearly about 800 lbs. of resin. 



With respect to the French industry of turpentine during the last years the Inclustrie- 

 v/rvl Handelszeitung' 6 ) makes the following statements, based on English information. 

 There were obtained in the forest of Gascogne near Bordeaux: — 



1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 (estimated) 



Colophony 4 ) . . 85000 64000 43000 60000 60000 68000 85000 120000 tons. 

 Oil of turpentine 25000 19000 12000 17000 17000 20000 25000 35000 „ 



It is believed that the main portion of the last harvest will be exported and 

 will yield 180000000 fr., that is, twice as much as in the year 1919. A decree of 

 October 23, 1920, forbade the exports of oil of turpentine without special license 4 ); 

 where a license is granted, an export duty of 20 per cent, will be exacted. Semi- 



: ) Chem. and met. Eng. 23 (1920), 238. — 2 ) See Wislicenus, Bericht (Germ, ed.) 1918, 53. — 3 ) Oil and 

 Colour Trades Journ. From Ind. u. Handelszeitung No. 40, Feb. 17, 1921, supplement. — 4 ) The paper speaks 

 always of turpentine and resin; the English word turpentine (= turpentine or oil of turpentine) has evidently 

 been translated Terpentin, instead Terpentinol. Oil of turpentine and colophony are meant. 



