SCIENTIFIC NOTES ON ESSENTIAL OILS. 5 
glucoside hesperidin contained chiefly in the Rutaceae. Under normal conditions these 
two bodies do not occur in Mentha in such abundant quantities. 
The chief damage to be noticed was the reduction in the activity of the chlorophyll 
apparatus. As a further noticeable symptom of the deep-seated disturbance, the super- 
abundance of bodies such as hesperidin is to be mentioned. Hesperidin must be looked 
upon as a vegetable dross in the process of metabolism, as it is never taken up again. 
Simultaneously all protective bodies against fungi are affected, so that an attack of 
fungi may easily take place or that the resisting power against damage by smoke is 
reduced. Quickly passing smoke does not hurt healthy plants. 
As the author correctly observes, the peppermint plant is rather particular as 
regards location and condition of soil. It requires a moderately moist and at the 
same time light and sunny situation, protected from wind. 
| Cultivation experiments with various kinds of Mentha in Austria are described 
on page 64. 
A. Wohlk*) reports on comparative examinations of some peppermint oils of 
commerce along with control tests of the ordinary menthol determination. As the 
results of his experiments, as admitted by himself, do not contribute anything new to 
the chemistry of peppermint oil, we need only mention that, according to WoOhlk, 
peppermint oil may be rectified im vacuo without material loss, but that this process 
offers no advantage over ordinary distillation by steam. 
The indifferent results obtained occasionally in the determination of ester as well 
as of total menthol in peppermint oil are perhaps due, according to H. W. Redfield’), 
to insufficient cooling when boiling the oil with acetic acid anhydride or with alcoholic 
potash lye, whereby possibly some of the ester may escape through the condenser and 
so become lost for determination purposes. In order to arrive at a definite conclusion, 
Redfield made some comparative tests, using different reflux condensers for the 
experiment in question. He used an Allihn, a Chamot-Soxhlet and a Fritz Friedrichs 
condenser. The results with the two last-named condensers were identical, whereas 
the Allihn apparatus was evidently insufficiently cooled, for the percentage of total 
menthol was 4,87 p.c. below the values ascertained by means of the other instruments; 
with ester menthol the difference only amounted to 0,33 p.c. 
Compare also the paragraph on page 68 of this Report. 
Peppermint Oil, Japanese. The Japanese Parliament®) has had to deal with a 
Bill which, if not actually a monopoly, amounted as a matter of fact to little less 
than the placing of peppermint business under effective State control. The proposed © 
Bill in its main features runs as follows: — 
Persons occupied in the cultivation, manufacture and sale of peppermint are 
to form co-operative production societies, in accordance with the terms of the Act 
on co-operative production societies. 
All persons who have not joined any of these co-operative production societies 
shall be prohibited from taking part in the cultivation, manufacture, or sale of peppermint. 
lf the peppermint co-operative production societies contemplate the export of 
peppermint, they shall be obliged to join in unions for their respective districts, 
and to establish a central union in Tokyo. 
1) Berichte d. deutsch. pharm, Ges. 24 (1914), 292. — *) Journ. Ind. Eng. Chemistry 6 (1914), 401. — 
*) Nachr. f. Hand., Ind. u. Landw. 1914, No. 51, p. 5. 
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