4 : SCIENTIFIC NOTES ON ESSENTIAL OILS. 43 
The attempts to prove camphor and terpineol remained unsuccessful. On the 
other hand it was possible to establish the presence of geraniol. This alcohol is 
contained in a fraction of the b. p. 97 to 112° (8 mm.); diphenylurethane, m. p. 80,5°. 
Citronellol too occurs in the oil; the silver salt of the acid phthalate melted at 
125 to 126°. 
Safrole was proved by oxidation to piperonylic acid (m. p. 228°) and eugenol by 
producing benzoyl eugenol according to Schotten-Baumann’s method (m.p. 69°). Perhaps 
cadinene (colour reaction) is also present in the oil. 
Yu-Ju oil is described by Nagai as a product having a great similarity to camphor 
oil, but differing from it in that it deposits no camphor in solid form. The Yu-Ju tree 
is so very similar to the camphor tree that it can only be distinguished from the 
latter by the smell of the wood. It is not known to which botanical genus it belongs. 
The tree occurs in the southern parts of Formosa, where the native call it “Ji-chiw’, 
the meaning of which is “oil tree’. A yearly production of 50000 to 60000 kin would 
be easily possible. Yu-Ju oil has the same physical properties as camphor oil, but 
its rotation is lower. dj30 0,942 to disg00,972; a) -+ 18,88 to + 29,85°; nyo 1,47457 to 
Np»0 1,47869. The oil contains the following bodies: furfurol (colour reaction with 
aniline hydrochloride and p-toluidine acetate); d-c-pinene (nitrosochloride, m. p. 107 to 
108°; nitrolpiperidine, m. p. 117 to’ 118°; nitrosopinene, m. p. 131 to 132°); camphene 
{conversion to isoborneol, m. p. 209°; phenylurethane, m. p. 138°); @-pinene (nopinic 
acid, m. p. 126 to 127°); cineol (cineol-iodol, m. p. 112°); dipentene (tetrabromide, 
m.p. 124 to 125°); «-terpineol (nitrosochloride, m.p. 113°; nitrolanilide, m. p. 155 to 156°; 
phenylurethane, m. p. 113°); safrole (b. p. 233°; digo 1,106); eugenol (benzoyl eugenol, 
m. p. 69°) and camphor which was isolated in solid form from a fraction of the 
b. p. 110 to 112° (17 mm.). The chief constituent of the oil is cineol. 
Oil of Solidago nemoralis. The oil of Solidago nemoralis, Ait., a composite 
distributed over a large part of northern America, was described shortly on page 63 
Report April 1906. Recently E. R. Miller and M. H. Eskew!) have examined it more 
closely. The oil had been distilled in October from flowering herb, yielding 0,322 p.c. 
d= 0,8532; a) — 16,179; npiso 17397; soluble in about 4 volumes of 90 p.c., and in 
about 24 volumes of 70 p.c. alcohol; sap. v. 5,6; sap. v. after acetylation 9,4. The 
figures found by us previously were: diso 0,8799; «pp —23°10’; ester v. 14,4; ester v. 
after acetylation 38,2; turbidly soluble in about 7 volumes of 95 p.c. alcohol. Miller 
and Eskew found about 0,6 p.c. of phenols and, as chief constituent, «-pinene. The 
pinene showed ~p — 19,37°, from which the authors conclude that it is a mixture of 
d- and d-a-pinene. It was characterized by the nitrosochloride and nitrolpiperidine 
(m. p. 118 to 119°). Neither phellandrene, nor borneol were found, although a campho- 
raceous odour was noticed in the oxidation of a fraction to be considered for borneol. 
The test for camphor was unsuccessful, on the other hand salicylic acid was isolated 
from the oil by shaking with a 3 p.c. caustic potash lye. With ferric chloride solution 
it gave its colour reaction, and on being treated with methyl alcohol and sulphuric acid 
it developed the well known odour of methyl ealolale In the saponification lye acetic 
acid was contained (silver salt). 
Spearmint Oil. Cultivation experiments with spearmint in Austria are mentioned 
On page 65. 
1) Journ. Americ. chem. Soc. 36 (1914), 2538. 
