il .- “= . 
im 
“ ’ 
CHEMICAL PREPARATIONS AND DRUGS. 105 
the melilotic anhydride in an oxygen-current, but owing to the liberal formation of 
resin the yield in this case in only about 50 p.c. Finally, the melilotic anhydride was 
warmed with pure sulphur, when the hydrogen was driven off in the form of sulphuretted 
hydrogen and a yield of fully 70 p.c. of coumarin was secured. 
Eucalyptol. In view of the fact that the market for eucalyptus oils containing 
eucalyptol has tended steadily upwards, the unavoidable rise in the price of eucalyptol 
cannot have come as a surprise. At the current value of the raw material our 
present quotation only leaves us a very moderate profit. 
Linalyl Acetate. We have recently, in these Reports’), referred more than once to 
- inferior samples of linalyl acetate. In the course of last year we have again repeatedly 
met with products of this description; in fact the market appears to be flooded with 
them. Almost without exception the samples of linalyl acetate which have been submitted 
to us for our opinion have left much to be desired. As in the case of the preparations 
previously described, all the inferior samples revealed the presence of foreign esters 
(geranyl acetate, neryl acetate, terpinyl acetate), and in some cases also of terpenes, 
that is to say of compounds all of which may appear in the form of by-products 
where the manufacture of linalyl acetate is conducted in an unworkmanlike manner. 
We should therefore be merely repeating ourselves by again quoting particular examples. 
A reference to the prevailing conditions may suffice to induce caution in the buying 
of linalyl acetate. Many manufacturers appear to be themselves unaware of the 
inferiority of their wares, as must be assumed from the fact that they are most 
astonished when, supported by analytical proofs, the pronounced impurity of their 
product is made clear to them beyond doubt. In some cases the correspondence 
which ensued as a result of our opinion showed that the manufacturer was quite 
incapable of properly judging the quality of his own linalyl acetate. 
Menthol. As usual, this important article is referred to under the heading “Pepper- 
mint Oil, Japanese”, for which see p. 78 of the present Report. 
In our last Report (p. 85), we showed in detail that the German Pharmacopeeia 
(5th Ed.) has set up an untenable demand by requiring menthol to possess a m. p. 
of 44°. We found that the m.p. of menthol of good quality, when tested exactly in 
accordance with the prescription of the Pharmacopceia, varied from 43 to 43,5°, and 
we therefore take the view that slight deviations from the standard set forth above 
ought not to constitute a cause for rejecting the article. According to the results 
observed by us up to the present a deviation of 1° should be regarded as admissible, 
but according to the results obtained by M. Lehmann?) such a range does not appear 
to be sufficient, seeing that Lehmann found samples of menthol which were above 
reproach in other respects to have a m.p. between 42 and 43°. In our previous con- 
tribution to the discussion of the question we stated that we regarded a m. p. of 42° 
as too low, and in doing so we based ourselves entirely upon the results of our own 
experiences, which have been confirmed again and again so far. This fact of course 
does not exclude the possibility that another investigator, testing the same preparation 
as ourselves, may determine its m. p. somewhat lower than we have done, and it would 
be proper for the Pharmacopceia to take account of such a possibility. and to allow 
1) Report October 1912, 122; April 1918. 116: — *) Chem. Ztg. 87 (1913), 1447. 
