Commercial and scientific notes on essential oils. 



59 



are said to have been 6200 cases of menthol and 7100 cases of peppermint oil, so 

 that it seems to be only a question of time when the holders will come down with 

 their prices, in order to revive the demand. The Japanese refiners also keep back with 

 their purchases of crude oil, limiting themselves, as it seems, to satisfy what little 

 demand there may be out of their old stocks. The quantities mentioned above 

 represent about 700000 lbs. of oil, to which the rather considerable stocks in London, 

 New York and Hamburg have to be added. It has generally been possible of late to 

 buy much cheaper in London than in the producing country. 



The Japanese export statistics, 



last 13 years:— Peppermint Oil 

 1 909 151 800 kin to the value of Y 

 146200 „ „ „ „ 



1910 

 1911 

 1912 

 1913 

 1914 

 1915 

 1916 

 1917 

 1918 

 1919 

 1920 

 1921 



172400 

 184900 

 282100 

 277760 

 341 200 

 360700 

 259700 

 214 700 

 409199 

 321 300 

 245400 



s, rectified of late, give 



the following 



figures for the 







Menthol 









'en 466 600 



102400 kin to the value 



of Yen 490500 



„ 464500 



116900 „ 



„ „ 



„ 



„ 



ii 



648800 



„ 625 600 



113600 „ 



n n 



„ 



11 



„ 



963200 



„ 699300 



133200 „ 



11 n 



„ 



1t 



ii 



1589700 



„ 1017700 



232900 „ 



u »» 



» 



„ 



it 



2872800 



„ 818800 



269300 „ 



n 11 



„ 



„ 



„ 



1816100 



„ 697 400 



323500 „ 



11 » 



11 



11 



i) 



1 851 000 



„ 844500 



386500 „ 



» » 



11 



t» 



„ 



2410600 



„ 593600 



251200 „ 



11 11 



n 



u 



n 



1594 300 



„ 539700 



237500 „ 



11 11 



» 



n 



ii 



1554000 



„ 1307113 



239973 „ 



11 M 



» 



n 



,' 



2546898 



„ 1848000 



363400 „ 



n 11 



., 



fi 



n 



5417 000 



„ 558413 



229900' „ 



11 11 



11 



„ 



» 



2172480 



The diagram here inserted has been sketched and kindly placed at our disposal 

 by Mr. K- Kobayashi. It gives an idea of the prices paid for menthol and peppermint 

 oil in the years from 1901 to 1920. The blue dots represent the menthol, the red 

 ones, the peppermint oil; "o" means nominal quotation, no business having been done 

 at the figure, whereas in the cases marked "•" actual sales resulted. 



Specially striking in the diagram are the periodical rises of the quotations for 

 peppermint oil in the years 1902/03, 1912/13 and 1919/1920, which did not last very 

 long, however. Whereas the high prices of 1902/03 were due to precipitated purchases 

 of the American Government 1 ), those of 1912/13 to the bad crop 2 ), the last quite extra- 

 ordinary rise can only be looked upon as a consequence of the war. 



R. E. Kremers 3 ) investigated the oil obtained through cohobation of the distillation 

 water of the Japanese peppermint. It had the following properties: — di 8 o 0.938, 

 n D180 1.485, ester v. 39.2, ester v. after acetylation 69.1, ester content 13.8 per cent., 

 alcohol as ester 10.9, total alcohol 20.3, free alcohol 9.4 per cent. It v was impossible 

 to establish the presence of menthol, whereas the fractionated distillation yielded 

 a product composed almost entirely of pulegone (nitroso derivative, m. p. 83°, semi- 

 carbazone, m. p. 167°). 



Pimento Leaf Oil. — On page 76 of our last Bericht (German), we quoted a com- 

 munication from an English source, according to which it was possible to obtain 

 100000 lbs. of pimento leaf oil annually in Jamaica. The original paper*) now before 



*) Comp. Report April 1903, 60. — 2 ) Ibid. April 1912, 99. — 3 ) Journ. Americ. Pharm. Assoc. 10 (1921), 

 834. Comp. also the water oil of the American peppermint and of Monarda fistulosa, pages 58 and 50 of this 

 Be/port. — *) Commerce Reports, N° 257 of November 1 st , 1920. 



