SCIENTIFIC AND OTHER NOTES ON ESSENTIAL OILS. Zs 
- From the buds 0.2 p.c. of an oil was obtained, same being specifically lighter than 
the oil from the leaves. 
Eupatorium Oils. The genus Hupatoriwm (N. O. Compositae) comprises more than 
500 species, 56 of which occur in the United States. From three species only (capilli- 
folium, triplinerve and aromaticum) oils are known to have been produced’). Now a 
detailed paper by E. R. Miller’) on the oil of Hupatoriwm capillifolium, (Lam.) Small. 
(#. foeniculaceum, Willd.) has come to hand. The raw material had been collected in 
Auburn (Alabama). In the course of 11 years, Miller has distilled altogether about 
30 samples which were all laevo-rotatory, whereas the oil described by us some time 
ago shewed dextro-rotation. The oil is nearly colourless or light yellow. Yield 0.8 
to 1.35 p.c. from freshly collected herb; d= 0.9278 to 0.9472; a) — 3.7 to — 16.8°; 
Np»o 1.50055 to 1.50688; acid v. 0.18 to 0.25; sap. v. 10.92 to 13.67; soluble in about 
0.7 vol. of 90 p.c. alcohol, on more being added opalescence sets in. The oil showed 
but traces of aldehydes and ketones and perhaps a little salicylic acid. By means of 
a methoxyl determination the presence of a phenol ether was established, which proved 
to be thymohydroquinone dimethylether (b. p. 244°) and formed the main constituent 
of the oil. On treatment with concentrated hydriodic acid it yielded thymohydroquinone 
(m. p. 142°), which was oxidized to thymoquinone (m. p. 44 to 45°). On distilling the 
oil with alcohol, a fraction was isolated which contained terpenes of a low specific 
gravity (as low as 0.8295 at 25°) and phellandrene (nitrosite, m. p. 96 to 98°; 100 to 
101° and 111 to 114°). Pinene and sabinene could not be ascertained, neither does 
linalool appear to belong to the constituent parts of the oil, but borneol was found to 
be present and was characterized by oxidation to camphor (oxime). In the saponification 
lye of the oil acetic acid (silver salt) as well as some other volatile acids were present. 
From the herb of EHupatorium purpureum, hyssoprfolium and perfoliatum no oils, or 
but traces only, was obtained, on the other hand HKupatorium serotimum, a species 
occurring in the eastern parts of the United States, yielded 0.51 p.c. of oil (calculated 
on the undried herb); do5. 0.9075; acid v. 0.5; sap. v. 28.7; sap. v. after acet. 61.92; 
soluble in 0.5 vol. of 90 p.c. alcohol, on addition of 1.7 vol. the solution became 
opalescent. The oil was of fairly dark colour, so that a determination of the rotation 
was impossible. Presumably it contained traces of salicylic acid and seemed to consist 
chiefly of sesquiterpenes. 
Geranium Oil. In Limaru (British East Africa), geranium oil has been distilled 
recently from fresh herb’). As mother-plant a variety (perhaps quercifoliwm) of Pelar- 
gonium radula is mentioned. The properties of the oil are: d 0.890; «#) —10°; np»0 1.4706. 
it contains 9.6 p.c. of geranyl acetate. 
Oil of Helichrysum saxatile. According to L. Francesconi and R. Sernagiotto 4), 
Helichrysum saxatile, Moris (N. O. Compositae) yields an oil of a peculiarly acrid, though fairly 
pleasant odour, reminding of roses. d 0.9020; a) — 11.719; np 1.4769. The bulk distils 
at 240° and appears to contain a body belonging to the group of hydroaromatic 
substances, possibly an oxygenous sesquiterpene derivative. Aldehydes and ketones 
were not present in the oil. 
1) Comp. Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, 1st ed., p. 667; Report April 1904, 96; April 
1907, 106; April 1908, 17. — 7%) Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin No. 693. Madison (Wisc.) 1914. — 
®) Perfum. Record 5 (1914), 423. — *) Gazz. chim. ital. 44 (1914), Il. 419; Chem. Zentralbl. 1915, 1. 835. 
