82 Report of Schimmel 8j Co. 1922. 



to 204° and 189°), which Wallach 1 ) had obtained formerly when oxidising terpinen-4-ol 

 from marjoram oil. Wallach's acid of the m. p. 205 to 206° was, however, optically active. 

 From two samples of Indian chenopodium, Ch. ambrosioides and Ch. anthelminticum, the 

 authors distilled 0.17 and 0.24 per cent, oil having the constants d~g 0.9399, [«] D i 5 o+0.07 o 

 and dg 0.9080, [«] D15 o — 9.6° respectively. 



We extract the following from P. van der Wielen's 2 ) treatise on chenopodium 

 oils: — According to the publications of Schiiffner and Vervoort 3 ) American wormseed 

 oil quickly gained a world-wide fame as a remedy against the widely-spread hook-worm 

 disease, owing to the support of the Rockefeller Institute. Said complaint is caused 

 by two intestinal worms, namely Ankylostoma duodenale, found in the mines not only 

 north of the Alps, in France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Belgium and England, but 

 also in subtropical and tropical climates, and the perhaps still more dangerous Necator 

 americanus, occurring in the South of North America, in Puerto Rico, Cuba and Brazil. 

 The disease may be brought about by drinking impure water, containing larvae of the 

 worms, or by infection through the skin. In places where the skin is thin, as for 

 instance on the ankles, the larvae penetrate into the body, pass through the blood- 

 vessels, the lungs, the larynx and the esophagus into the digestive system and there 

 develop. The miners generally get the disease in this way. 



However successful a remedy chenopodium oil may be, its noxious qualities 

 ought not tn be underrated, for it may quite unexpectedly give rise to cases of 

 poisoning. In the report of the Rockefeller Institute of February 1921, Darling and 

 Smillie mention three such cases, caused by a chenopodium oil that had produced 

 no ill effect with other patients. The maximum dose for grown-up people ought to 

 be fixed at 3 cc. of the oil. On the other hand, the efficacity is said to have some- 

 times been less than expected, of proof that the anthelmintic properties of the com- 

 mercial oils, the constants of which were not always the same, could be very 

 different 4 ). 



L. Sullivan 5 ) has made a detailed investigation into the manufacture of oil of 

 wormseed in Carroll County, Maryland. The belt in which the wormseed (Chenopodium 

 ambrosioides) is grown, he says, extends from a short distance north of Weston almost 

 due south to Woodbine, being about 15 miles long and approximately 4 miles wide. 

 The plant grown outside this belt is said to be far less productive of oil, and the 

 product is not so good. There are several hundred farms on which the herb is culti- 

 vated systematically and gathered, the crop being taken to distilleries, of which there 

 are about a dozen in the county. The largest individual farm does not exceed 13 acres, 

 and the biggest company-owned plantation is about 20 acres. The annual production 

 varies from 10000 to 40000 lbs., whereas it was only 2800 lbs. in 1910 and 5000 lbs. 

 in 1911. The 1920 yield is stated to have been relatively small, but the acreage culti- 

 vated was larger than usual. The better the soil is worked and manured, the higher 

 the percentage of oil in the plant. The yield in oil may run from 30 to 100 lbs. per acre. 



According to Chevalier 6 ) Chenopodium ambrosioides, L., Ch. anthelminticum, L. and 

 Ch. sujffruticosum. Willd., yield anthelmintic volatile oils, whereas Ch. spathulatum, Sieb. 

 and Ch. retusum. Moq., are less important. — Van der Wielen 7 ) stated that plants grown 



!) Liebig's Annalen 356 (1907), 212. — 2 ) Pharm. Weekllad 58 (1921), 1080. As per a reprint kindly sent 

 us. — *) Cf. Report 1919, 113. — *) This is quite possible, as the distillation of American wormseed oil is 

 rather difficult and may lead to inferior products. Adulterations with ineffective substances are also frequent 

 and sometimes even absolutely valueless artificial mixtures are offered. Ct.Berichtel921, 53, 1920, 63; Report 1919, 

 61, 2jc. — B ) Per/iim. Record 12 (1921), 39. — 6 ) Bull, des sciences pharmacologiques, March 1921. — 7 ) Loc. cit. 



