44 REPORT OF SCHIMMEL & Co. OCTOBER 1915. at 
Wormwood herb is richest in oil when in full florescence. The herb is cut the 
day before distillation, so that it reaches the still somewhat wilted. Aromatic weeds, 
such as Erigeron canadensis and Ambrosia artemisiaefolia, should be carefully removed. 
Distillation of a charge usually lasts about ten hours. Little need be said about the 
distilling plant; the still itself mostly consists of a large wooden vat. Condensation is 
carried out by water, in some parts by water and air combined. The distillation water 
is discarded and the exhausted herb taken back to the fields, where it is eaten by the 
cattle. If eaten by milk cows, the milk is said to acquire a slightly bitter taste. 
On page 45 of the same Bulletin, E. R. Miller has published a chemical study of 
Wisconsin wormwood oil'). He has found that the cultivation in rows yields a better 
herb and consequently a better oil than meadow cultivation. With six authentic worm- 
wood oils distilled in Wisconsin, Miller established the following properties: de 0.9230 
to 0.9364; npio 1.4075 to 1.4725; soluble in 0.7 to 0.8 vol. of 80 p.c. alcohol; sap. v. 
73.8 to 100.4; sap. v. after acet. 113.9 to 157.1. 
Itahan wormwood oil, obtained by V. Paolini and R. Lomonaco”) at the rate of 
0.46 p.c. from herb grown in the neighbourhood of Rome, was a greenish-brown liquid 
of not unpleasant odour. It did not dissolve in 80 p.c. alcohol. The oil contained 
10 p.c. a- and @-thujone (semicarbazone), about 48 p.c. of thujylalcohol (hydrogen 
phthalate), furthermore phellandrene (nitrosite, m. p. 105°) and cadinene (dihydro- 
chloride). Thujylalcohol was present in the free state as well as esterified with acetic, 
isovaleric and palmitic acids. We have here to deal with a mixture of at least two 
different alcohols, among which 0-thujylalcohol predominates. 
New Pharmacopoeias. 
At the beginning of this year, new pharmacopoeias came into force in England as 
well as in Finland. We shall discuss these publications in the usual way, as far as 
articles of our industry come into consideration. 
British Pharmacopoeia. 
(The British Pharmacopoeia 1914.) 
In view of the comprehensive preparations which had been undertaken in the 
compilation of the new British Pharmacopoeia, it was to be expected that contents | 
and methods of examination would be in keeping with the requirements of modern 
times. As far as essential oils and kindred articles are concerned, this is the case 
generally speaking, for not only have directions been altered where necessary, but 
they have also been amplified. For instance: the rotation has now been taken into 
consideration throughout, the only exceptions being turpentine oil and, strange to say, 
clove oil. Furthermore with oils containing esters, alcohols, aldehydes and cineol, a 
quantitative determination of these constituents is required wherever these bodies are of = 
importance to the quality of the respective oils, §c., &c. Special directions for the various 
determinations are given in a separate chapter. One innovation we cannot approve Of, 
1) See also Bull. Univ. Wisconsin, N° 693. — %) Rend. della R. Accad. det Lincei, Roma (5), 28 (1914), 
Il. 123; Chem. Zentralbl. 1915, 1. 607. ; 
