14 REPORT OF SCHIMMEL & Co. OCTOBER 1915, 
Further experiments were made with a view to ascertain whether it would be 
advantageous to plant foreign caraway seed of high oil percentage in Holland. For 
this purpose Zijlstra examined a number of samples of foreign seed for oil and carvone 
percentage. Thus he found, f.i., in wild caraway from Orebro (Sweden) 6.09 p.c. of 
oil showing 55 p.c. of carvone; Hamar (Norway) 6.79 p.c. of oil with 55.5 p.c. of 
carvone; Wurttemberg (Jagst district) 7.17 p.c. of oil with 53 p.c. of carvone. Lower 
values were found in samples from other countries, down to 3.36 p.c. of oil with 
50 p.c. of carvone in caraway from Kasan (Russia). Cultivation experiments under- 
taken, with these samples showed that some sort of an adjustment had taken place: 
the differences in oil and carvone percentage were not as great and the seed produced 
resembled Dutch grown caraway seed. The above-mentioned caraway from Orebro 
yielded 4.65 p.c. of oil with 55 p.c. of carvone, Hamar seed 4.15 p.c. of oil with 55 p.c. 
of carvone, Wurttemberg seed 5.28 p.c. of oil with 50.5 p.c. of carvone, and Kasan 
seed 4.11 p.c. of oil with 54 p.c. of carvone. Thus the hope of obtaining seed rich in 
oil and carvone from the cultivation of similar seed of foreign origin has not been 
fulfilled. . ! 
Zijlstra believes that the indifferent results may have to be attributed to the 
existence of different kinds of Caruwm Carvi; if there are such kinds which do not 
grow Satisfactorily in Holland, selection appears to take place. 
Chamomile Oil. In the oil of chamomile flowers from Matricaria Chamomilla, L. 
(N.O. Compositae), F. B. Power and H. Browning jun.') have proved the presence of 
furfurol by means of the usual colour reaction. After some little time a small quantity 
of a body melting at 110° deposited from the oil. On being heated it developed an 
odour like coumarin, the solution in concentrated sulphuric acid showing a blue 
fluorescence. It seems evident that this body is identical with umbelliferone methylether 
CH:CH (herniarin)”), which melts at 117 to 118° in the pure state. 
CH)-O-GH, | —_—S® far it had only been found in burstwort (Herniaria hir- 
3 64 43 . . . 
aN 0- co suta, L., N.O.Caryophyllaceae), but never before in essential oils. 
Umbelliferone is the lactone of umbellic acid, 2,4-dihydroxy- 
Umbelliferone methylether. ; : é Patt: . 
cinnamic acid; it is therefore 4-hydroxycoumarin. 
It is not known whether umbelliferone methylether occurs also in chamomile oil 
produced in the normal way, for the oil examined by Power and Browning had been 
obtained as a by-product from the alcoholic extract of chamomile flowers by steam 
distillation. A fatty acid of the m. p. 61° was also found in the oil. Besides many 
other bodies the authors established the presence, in the alcoholic extract of chamo- 
mile flowers, of a paraffin melting at 63 to 65°, which proved to be triacontane, 
CsoH62, as well as of a phytosterol, C27Hs¢O, melting at 132 to 134°. Some time ago 
Klobb, Garnier and Ehrwein*) had obtained from chamomile flowers a hydrocarbon, 
for which they gave the formula Cop Heo. 
Cinnamon Oil. According to Rosenberg*) this oil is said to be an excellent 
treatment for warts. It would appear that it suffices to apply one drop per day to 
the warts, when they will disappear within a few days without leaving any scar. 
The treatment is said to be entirely painless. 
1) Journ. Chem. Soc. 105 (1914), 2280. — %) Barth and Herzig, Monatsh. f. Chem. 10 (1889), 161. — 
3) Comp. Report April 1911, 167. — *) Amer. Medicine, February 1915; Practitioner 1915, June. According to 
Pharmaceutical Journ. 94 (1915), 804. 3 anon 
