18 | REPORT OF SCHIMMEL & Co. OcionER sta) APH 1915. ea 
-actone of which, however, had been removed in part. These oils had not, therefore, the 3 
characteristics of the above-mentioned oil, but were viscid, of a dark brown colour and of a 
a peculiar odour. They shewed the following values: diso 1,0407 and 1,0430; npa»o 1,52324 
and 1,52245; acid v. 14,9 and 10,9; ester v. 155,6 and 167,3; ester v. after acetylation, 
ascertained with one of the oils only, 181,6. Both oils gave a clear solution in 95 p.c. 
alcohol, up to about 1 vol., but became turbid on further dilution, one of the solutions 
showing a deposit after prolonged standing. The first-named distillate behaved similarly 
in 90 p.c. alcohol; the second, however, showed a slight precipitation from the beginning. 
Oil of Elsholtzia cristata. Y. Asahina and Y. Murayama‘) describe the oil of 
Elsholtzia cristata, Willd., a labiata which was formerly used as an antipyretic and a 
diuretic in Japan, but which now belongs to the list of obsolete medicaments. The 
dried herb yielded 2 p.c. of a yellow volatile oil, a mobile liquid becoming brown by 
degrees, and of a peculiar odour. dis0 0,970; ¢p —2,7°; acid v. 0; sap. v. 1,8; sap. v. 
after acetylation 14,7. It boiled chiefly between 210 and 215°. On shaking with 
caustic potash or bisulphite liquor but very little of the oil was dissolved; when 
heated with hydrogen iodide no methyl iodide was split off. With semicarbazide 
hydrochloride the oil yielded a semicarbazone of a m. p. 171°, with hydroxylamine 
hydrochloride an oxime melting at 54°; the ketone regenerated from. these derivatives 
was an almost colourless, very mobile oil of a peculiar aromatic odour: b. p. 87 to 88° 
(10mm.); 112° (31 mm.); 210° (764 mm.); d2000,9817; &@)-0; npx0 1,48424.. The authors 
call the ketone elsholtzione; it has the empirical composition CioH;4O2. When reduced 
with amalgamated zinc and hydrochloric acid, after Clemmensen?), it yielded a small 
quantity of a body CioHieO, which does not form a semicarbazone. Oxidation with 
potassium permanganate led to isovaleric acid, which was characterized by the ana- 
lysis of the silver salt and conversion into ‘sovaleranilide (m.p. 115°). Under the in- 
fluence of amylnitrite and sodium on the elsholtzione, elsholtzic acid CgH,gQOs, m. p. 
134° was obtained. In elsholtzione we have probably to deal with a furan derivative, 
possibly of the formula C,H, sige CH,-CH(CH,)s. In connection with this exa- 
mination the authors produced some alkylfuryl ketones by synthesis. 
Essential Oils, Sicilian and Calabrian. 
In an article on the hybrids of the edible Citrus varieties, L. Trabut®) puts forth 
the suggestion that it will be necessary to produce new Citrus varieties by cross- 
fertilization. In his opinion numerous and valuable cultivation varieties might be obtained 
in this manner, and at the same time it might be possible by this means to ascertain 
the mother-plant of the present-day Citrus hybrids. 
Beauot Oil. How far, under certain conditions, “art” may go, is shewn by two. 
samples of “artificial bergamot oil’ which were submitted to us for analysis. The Oils. 
had the following constants: — 
I. diso 1,0432; ep + 7°30’; acid v. 0,3; ester v. 403,3 
I. diso 10858; +7930; 4 » 09; » » Sl. 
1) Arch. der Pharm. 252 (1914), 435. — %) Comp. Report April 1913, 141. — #%) Journ. d’Agriculture a 
tropicale 14 (1914), 65. 
