ayy 
oi AND OTHER NOTES ‘oN ESSENTIAL OILS. ; 33%: 
ees: eee), carried out some aime ago, pointed to the probability 
the aliphatic terpene | ‘myrcene being present i in Formosa Jemongtass oil. He now 
ce fic ypeie as sodium and alcohol, when a substance resulted Geuine the 
properties: ‘of dihydromyrcene and which afforded a tetrabromide melting between 87 
and 88°. A further hydrogenation with hydrogen and platinum led to 2.6-dimethyloctane. 
On oxidation with alkaline potash permanganate, succinic and oxalic acids were formed, 
_ The oil contains. an aldehyde which is not identical with citral and which it has not 
been posible, so. fan, | to a 
. “Lime Oil. The teitiation. of lime in the West Indies has been repeatedly 
Ey “discussed in our Reports*). It seems that it is increasing continually, as lime juice, for 
_- the manufacture of which the fruits are chiefly used, is very popular in England and 
in the United States. An official report about the Leewards Islands *) Says that the 
; plantations of limes extend there over 970 acres. On the St. Lucia Island, the lime juice 
and oil industry is likewise progressing. In Montserrat, the plantations have to suffer 
_ much from illnesses and from insects, although the conditions have improved somewhat 
_ owing to the heavy rains in 1915. In the same year, the Dominica crop amounted to 
390458 barrels. There, the storms of August 1915 caused severe damage, uprooting 
. 10000 to 12000 trees, which -means a loss of 14000 to. 15000 barrels of fruits. The 
ce exports of oil of limes in 1915 were as follows: 
ey ict essential oil of limes = 4108 gallons to ne value of £ 9985, 
oe Sah Sate eelies 2.0 he 1 OFR ea Wat Bagh). 
; es In the preceding year, the value of the export was é 12626 higher. 
# The periodical Penponijlancer®) contains a conmineation on lemon growing in 
~~ Dominica. This would be something quite new, for so far only limes but no lemons 
__ have been cultivated there. We take it, in consequence, that some confusion occurred 
= in translating. The editors of said periodical; whom we. approached on the subject, 
_ declared, however, by letter that only lemons had been mentioned. in the original, which 
it was impossible to trace. Nevertheless, we maintain our doubt, all the more as the 
figures mentioned in the Tropenpflanzer tally almost entirely with those given for limes 
in the Blue Book of the Leewards Islands for 1916/17"). According to it, in 1916, the 
¢ ~ exports of essential oil of limes came up to £ 16803, those of otto of limes, to" 
“4 A 
i a —— These. Cee raMs refer most likely. to hand- pressed and distilled aS 
le Pimenasemiid Demerara, British Guiana), the Government founded an institution 
__ with the task to examine the question of vitality of the lime fruit industry. We have 
a now before us the report on the six first months of work®). The quality of the fruits . 
ee - supplied by the various growers was not always satisfactory. Sometimes, they were 
. absolutely unripe or showed damage done by insects, this latter fact being a proof of 
a the trees having been neglected. The juice obtained was very good, but the yield in oil 
a rather low, owing most likely to lack of experience. In. any case, the average results are 
ae _ Satisfactory, and the prospects favourable, for.the lime fruit industry in the neighbourhood. 
__—--—-4) Comp. Report October 1917, 30. — 2%) Kogyo-Kwagaku-Zasshi (J. Chem.-Ind. Tokyo) 20 (1917), 825; 
_ Journ. Soe. Chem. Industry 37 (1918),74A. — *) Comp. e.g. Report October 1913, 18. — *) Perfum. Record 8 
917), 109. —\ *%) These names are new to us, as one generally differentiates between hand-pressed oil of 
_ limette or lime oil and distilled oil of limette or distilled limie oil. — °®) Tropenpflanzer 21 (1918), 64. — 
7) Perfum. Record 9 (1918), 69. — *) Perfum. Record 8 (1917), 109. 
ee E . ts a 
