AL ols. ; 
ae lebrew sont ““Lebonah” Suniivide fail it vce a curious fact that the Chinese word 
for. frankincense (“Ju-siang”) has a similar meaning. 
The mother-plant was discovered by Carter about the middle of last century and 
later it-was called Boswellia Carteri by Birdwood. But there are other kinds or varieties 
of Boswellia yielding frankincense, of which Holmes mentions B. Bhaw-Dajiana, Birdw. 
: ait B. Frereana, Birdw. The Somalis call frankincense Beyo or Hanji-beyo. There 
_ appear to be two distinct species, called by the Arabians Loban Dakar (Mohor or 
= Lohur of the Somalis) from B. Carteri and Loban Maida (Yehar of the Somalis) from 
. B. Frereana. The different kinds of frankincense are classed according to colour, size 
of tears, &c. Carter who travelled in southern Arabia from 1844 to 1846 described the 
- collecting of frankincense and states that the gum is obtained from incisions made 
during the months of May and December. On its first appearance the gum iS as 
white as milk and soon becomes solid. The species called Loban Maida (Boswellia 
Bs _-Frereana) is collected in Somaliland, but does not appear to have been distilled as yet. 
+ 
Oil of Palmetto. A number of years ago Sherman and Briggs examined an oil 
_ they had obtained by pressing the berries preserved in alcohol of the palm Sabal 
~ serrulata, R. et S. (Serenoa serrulata, Hook.)?). As palmetto oil contains a fair quantity 
of freé acids it was presumed that the ethyl esters found in the oil had been formed 
in the course of the preservation of the fruits in alcohol. C. A. Mann?) who published 
Es. ‘exhaustive treatise on the fruit of Sabal serrulata has come to the conclusion that 
_ the berries contain no, or but traces of, essential oil and that the product which had 
so far been described as the voiatile oil from Sabal serrulata had actually been formed 
by the free acids contained in the berries and by the alcohol used in the preservation 
_ of the fruit. He considers it questionable whether such a product should be styled 
; volatile oil from Sabal serrulata. The real oil consists of free fatty acids only, the 
_ decomposition products of the glycerides of the fat oil. Mann found the following 
_ figures for the so-called essential oil: doz. 0.8627, npxzo 1.4294, acid v. 26.6, ester v. 226.3. 
3 According to C. Griebel and E. Bames‘) the fruit of Sabal serrulata are used for 
_ flavouring cognac and are placed on the market in a dried state under the designation 
of “Bayas negros”. They resemble dried plums. A fluid extract’ is manufactured from 
_ Sabal fruit in America which, under the name of “Saw palmetto” is employed in pul- 
_ monary diseases. In the flesh of the fruit Griebel and Bames found two enzymes having 
_ different actions, one splitting glycerides of fatty acids into acid and glycerol, while the 
- other is Ele of partly esterifying the liberated fatty acids with monohydric alcohols. 
7 Oil of Japanese Pepper. Some time ago H. Thoms?) had the opportunity of distill- 
_ ing admittedly genuine fruits of so-called Japanese pepper (Xanthoxylum piperitum, DC. 
_ [N.O. Rutacee]) when 4.33 per cent. of an essential oil was obtained which M. Duruttis °) 
2 examined more closely’). The oil shewed the following constants: doo 0.890, ap + 20.5°, 
a 1) Perfum. Record 7 (1916), 78. — *) Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, 24 ed., vol. Il, 
_ p.250. — 4) Saw palmetto. A chemical study of the fruit of Sabal serrulata. Bull. Univ. Wisconsin N° 767. 
Science Series. Vol. 4, N° 8. — ‘) Zeitschr. Untersuch. d. Nahrungs- u. Genussm. 81 (1916), 282. — 5) Arbeiten 
_ a. d. pharm. Inst. d. Univ. Berlin 11 (1914), 58. — %) Ibidem, 60. — *) About earlier examinations of 
_ Japanese pepper oil see Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, 2"4-ed., vol. II, p. 626. 
