56 Report of Schimmel § Co. 1922. 



Both samples had a very fine odour, thus distinguishing themselves from the 

 Penang (Singapore) oils. The high specific gravity seems to indicate that the plant, 

 from which they originate, belongs to the Singapore variety 1 ). 



Two patchouly oils of 1917 and 1919 from the United Provinces of British India, 

 examined by the Imperial Institute 2 ), had the following properties: — d^ 0.992 and 

 0.998, « D20O ? and — 77°, n D20O 1.513 and 1.515, soluble in 0.3 vol. of 90 per cent, alcohol 

 at 15°,' acid v. 3.3 and 1.0, ester v. 4.4 and 5.3. It results from these figures that 

 the oils have nothing in common with the Java oil and very little with that from 

 Singapore, whereas they come very close to the distillates obtained in Europe from 

 Singapore leaves. 



Peach Oil. — Although many preparations designated as "Peach Oil" or "Peach 

 Essence" have long been in use for flavouring purposes, it is well known that they 

 consist for the most part of purely empirical mixtures of esters and essential oils 

 with other aromatic substances which occur but little or not at all in the fruit whose 

 flavour they are supposed to represent. This has been proved by F. B. Power and 

 V. K. Chesnut 3 ) in their recent investigation of the odorous constituents of peaches. 

 The authors used for their experiments the fresh pulp of selected ripe fruits (Georgia 

 Belle), carefully deprived of the pits. This material was subjected to distillation in 

 various quantities (106.6, 108.4, 120.2 and 14.18 kos.), but each time in one operation 

 and without any added water, in a current of steam. The amount of distillate col- 

 lected was about 65 liters in the three first cases and 12 liters in the last test. This 

 liquid was repeatedly cohobated until the odorous substances were concentrated in 

 volumes of 4.2, 2, 2 and 0.5 liters, respectively. From one such concentrated distillate 

 the authors obtained by repeated extraction with ether 0.00074 per cent, of essential 

 oil. In another case, when 155.6 kilos of peaches were distilled and the whole 

 distillate extracted with ether, the yield of essential oil was 1.2774 grams = 

 0.00082 per cent. The oil obtained was limpid, pale yellow and possessed an ex- 

 ceedingly fragrant, intense peach-like odour. When cooled somewhat below the ordinary 

 temperature, it formed a concrete transparent mass, which was interspersed with 

 small acicular crystals, the latter evidently consisting of a paraffin hydrocarbon, melt- 

 ing at 52°. The essential oil from peaches is very unstable. When exposed to the 

 air, it becomes converted into a black, viscid mass and loses completely its original 

 fragrance. Only when kept in a hermetically sealed glass tube, it appeared to remain 

 unchanged. The oil probably consisted in the main of the linalyl esters of formic, 

 acetic, valeric and caprylic acids, together with a little acetaldehyde.and furfural, the 

 latter having doubtless been produced during the process of distillation by the action 

 of the organic acids on the sugar contained in the fruit. The presence of cadinene, 

 or a compound giving a similar colour reaction (red colouring with glacial acetic and 

 concentrated sulphuric acids), was also indicated. 



In order to prove the presence of linalool, the authors saponified 2 litres of the 

 concentrated distillate with 25 grams of pure sodium hydroxide and distilled the 

 saponified liquid, collecting about 800 cc. of the distillate. By extraction of this liquid, 

 which smelled of linalool, with ether, 0.2620 grams = 0.00024 per cent, of a yellowish, 

 oily residue were obtained, containing a small amount of solid substance, probably 

 a hydrocarbon. Oxidation of the oily residue (linalool) lead in the end to a yellowish 



x ) Comp. also Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, 2 nd edition, vol. Ill, p. 571. — 2 ) Bull. Imp. 

 Inst. 18 (1920), 346. — 3 ) Journ. Americ. chem, Soc. 43 (1921), 1725. 



