COMMERCIAL NOTES AND SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION. 29 
Commercial Notes and Scientific Information 
on Essential Oils. 
Almond Oil, bitter. Since the almost universal admission of synthetic chlorine- 
free bitter almond oil in the manufacture of comestibles, the genuine oil has been 
rather neglected, especially because for some considerable time there has been no 
scarcity of apricot kernels, which constitute the sole raw material of the article. To 
this must be added the fact that adulteration is more than ever the order of the day, 
and that the “elasticity” of this article of confidence is being exploited to such an 
extent by certain firms that so-called “genuine bitter almond oil” may be bought at 
almost any price, with a “guarantee of absolute purity”. The extent of the deception 
which is being practised in this matter can only be fully judged by those who, like 
ourselves, are themselves manufacturers of the article, and in spite of assurances to 
the contrary, most of the pretended manufacturers are not really so. In natural almond 
oil the hydrocyanic acid-content affords to some degree a means of estimating the 
absence of artificial additions, but in bitter almond oil free from hydrocyanic acid this 
factor is absent, and the buyer is completely dependent upon the rectitude of his supplier. 
Under the influence of the dragging sale we have somewhat reduced our prices. 
As V.R. Krieble’) pointed out some time ago, when emulsin is allowed to act with 
amygdalin, l-mandelic nitrile is sometimes formed, while benzaldehyde and hydro- 
cyanic acid in the presence of emulsin may give rise to d-mandelic nitrile. In 
explanation of this phenomenon, Krieble assumes the presence in emulsin of varying 
quantities of oxynitrilase, the proportions of which are dependent on the presence of 
d- or /-mandelic nitrile.. As d-mandelic nitrile is a component of prunasine and of 
amygdaline, whereas sambunigrine contains J-mandelic nitrile, it was to be expected 
that in plants which count these glucosides among their constituents, the correspon- 
ding d- or J-oxynitrilase would also occur. In order to elucidate this problem, 
Krieble?) examined the bark and the leaves of the wild cherry, as well as the leaves 
of the peach, and in these organs did in fact find an enzyme under the influence of 
which benzaldehyde and hydrocyanic acid afforded d-mandelic acid. In elder leaves, 
however, which contain sambunigrin, he was unable to detect /-oxynitrilase. In Krieble’s 
Opinion it is not impossible that the last-named leaves may contain equal proportions 
of d- and /-oxynitrilase. 
G. Bertrand and A. Compton’*) conclude from the results obtained by them in their 
investigations of the hydrolysis of salicin, that in addition to amygdalinase, vicianinase, 
sucrase, vicianase, and cellase, the emulsin also contains salicinase. Salicinase in a 
3p.c. solution is capable of completely hydrolysing salicin. 
In conclusion it remains to be mentioned that K. Ohta*) has prepared emulsin 
free from albumin; this emulsin resolves amygdalin much more intensely than does 
the emulsin of commerce. After six months its activity still remained undiminished. 
1) Journ. Americ. chem. Soc. 34 (1912), 716. — *) Lbidem 35 (1913), 1643. — %) Compt. rend. 154 (1912), 
1646; 157 (1913), 797. — *) Biochem. Zeitschr. 58 (1913), 329; Chem. Zentralbl. 1914. I. 901. 
