102 | REPORT OF SCHIMMEL & Co. APRIL 1914. oe eras 
Oil from Cathetus fasciculata. Cathetus fasciculata, Lour. (Phyllanthus cochin-— 
chinensis, Muell.), a euphorbia which occurs in Southern China and in Cochin China, 
contains an essential oil of which a small sample reached us recently from Annam, 
where the plant is known by the name of Bruyére d’Annam. The oil was of a bluish- 
green colour, and possessed an odour reminding somewhat of cajuput oil. Its constants 
were as follow: dis50 0,8897, ¢p —4° 34’, npwo 1,47544, acid v. 1,9, ester v. 3,7, ester 
v. after acet. 44,8 = 12,7 p.c. CioHlisO, soluble in 0,5 vol. a.m. of 90 p.c. alcohol; 
not even 10 vols. of 80 p.c. alcohol were sufficient to make a solution. Among the 
constituents is to be mentioned cineol, which was identified from the iodol-compound 
(m.p. 112°). Judging by the odour of the oil, cymene and linalool are also present. 
A sample of oil sent to us many years ago under the name of “Essence de 
Bruyére du Tonkin” possessed precisely similar characters, with the exception of the 
rotation; dis0 0,8787, @p + 10° 32’, nps»0 1,47009, acid v. 1,7, ester v. 5,9, ester v. after 
acet. 45,2, sol. in 0,3 vols. a.m. of 90 p.c. alcohol. Here, also, we were able to 
identify cineol by the iodol test. We believe that we are not mistaken in regarding 
Cathetus fasciculata as the parent plant of the last-named oil also. 
Another sample of “Essence de Bruyére” was mentioned in our Report of April 1904, 
poi. 
Machilus Oil. We have received under this name from Japan a smail quantity 
of oil distilled in that country. The oil constituted a solid, yellowish mass, and in 
this respect, as well as in its colour and odour, it reminded of guaiacum wood oil, 
although it does not compare in any degree with the latter in regard to aroma. It 
did not melt below 58°, and then formed a yellowish liquid. 
The other characters of the oil were as follows: dsoo 0,9482, [«]) +. 27° 50’ (in 
10 p.c. alcoholic solution), acid v. 1,2, ester v. 5,4, ester v. after acet. 155,5, soluble 
in 3 vols. a.m. of 70 p.c. alcohol. By suitable treatment with acetone we succeeded 
in isolating the crystalline portion which constituted the bulk of the oil. After repeated 
crystallisation from 60 p.c. alcohol this portion was obtained in the form of white, 
matted needles of a silky lustre, m.p. 82°. The specific rotation, determined in a 
10 p.c. alcoholic solution, was [¢], +38°26’. It is obvious that the body consti- 
tuted a sesquiterpene alcohol, for under heating with concentrated formic acid, water 
was eliminated. 
We had received no information concerning the parent plant of the oil. It is 
probably Machilus Thunbergti, Sieb. et Zucc. (Laurus indica, Thunb.), a laurel which, 
according to J.J. Rein (Japan nach Reisen und Studien, 1886, Vol. II, p.291), occurs on 
the southern islands of the Japanese Empire as well as along the coast from Hondo 
to Tokyo. 
Oil of Pelargonium tomentosum. At the suggestion of Prof. Heckel, of Marseilles, 
we have received from the Botanical Gardens in that city a sample of herb of Pelargonium 
tomentosum, L. (N. O. Geraniacee). When distilled by steam, the herb afforded about 
0,01 p.c. of an oil of a brownish-yellow colour with an aroma of menthone or pulegone. 
Unfortunately the sample consisted of only a few drops, and any further examination 
was therefore out of the question. 
CRIA RE 2 
