distilled benzaldehyde. After heating for 24 hours on the water-bath » 
was further treated, when about 285 cc. of benzyl benzoate were obtainec 
<of benzaldehyde was observed in ge course of this process. 
Bicotiot and poured the Sano? “whale still boiling, ‘gradually 
“ee A colorimetric process for determining cinnamalde 
cinnamon will: be found described on page 92 of this Report. 
curing of tonka beans are given in a treatise vee Albes'). As will be known | he 
tonka bean is the seed of Dipteryx oda Willd. (Cowmarouna a Aun, )*), a 
tropical South America generally. The best beans come from the region bomen 
Caura and Cuchivero rivers, in Eastern Venezuela, where the soil seems to be ‘most 
favourable for the growth of the tonka bean tree. The trees are not usually found in- 
groves, but grow singly, though small clumps are occasionally met with. The ‘gatherin 
of the nuts is thus all the more difficult and arduous. Cultivation of the tree has 
been attempted in Trinidad and other parts of the West Indies, but as it takes from 
10 to 12 years for a tree to come into bearing this has apparently discouraged ‘the. 
planters and the wild product is still depended upon to supply the markets. Again 
the crops seem to be very irregular. As a rule there does not seem to be more than 
One good crop in three years, production in the interval being so ae that it hardly 
pays to collect the beans. ee 
In Venezuela the tree is known as sarrapia, the men engaged i in the cuiléetian ‘af the 
seeds being called sarapieros. Ciudad Bolivar is the centre of the tonka-bean industry. 
Birds, especially of the parrot family, frequently cause considerable damage. They 
> feed on the small immature fruit of the trees in the months of October and Noveniber = : 
long before the beans are ready to be gathered. Where these he have eaten the 
just a small piece bitten off. ; i eee 
About the beginning of February the sarrapieros begin to organize their exoete a 
y to the interior to collect the beans. For two or three months thereafter the Caura — 
; River is animated with boats of every kind or description, some of them carrying. 
i) entire families on their way to the districts where the trees are found. As soon 
a suitable place has been found ranchos or huts are built which are to be 
sarrapieros’ homes for perhaps two or three months. Once the fruit of the trees” 
the vicinity of the ranchos has been gathered, the men go farther into the foi 3 
b: sometimes taking their supplies with them and remaining absent for a’ week or | 
|: The fruit of the tonka-bean tree resembles a mango in appearance, it has” 
little pulp which is sticky and tasteless, but edible. The seed (or bean) is C 
age een a hard furry substance. After a sufficient qaantty © of the fruit has been E 
1) Bulletin of the Pan-American Union; Americ. Prarie 10. (1916), 278, = 2) Acoma ie: A 
(Handbuch der Pharmakognosie, 294 vol., page 1310) English tonka beans, which are not. C 
commerce, are supposed to originate from Coumarouna oppositifolia, Aubl. (Dipter YX opposttifolia 
from Dipterys pteropus, Mart. do not appear to come into the market, on L Shs sam Bape the 
