ee a hes Kosai! ie ee ae ee 
bans = ia Soh ie dead Ke Wabes gest ic) 
wa) Ta if 
Pon =) ttt aes ag Hs 4 
was ope <f w% ey. utd 
ey “ScurNTIFIC AND OTHER: NOTES ON ESSENTIAL OILS: 51 
Es urpentine Oil. In a paper ‘on the chemical iidustey and the raw marerials 
F Gisece E. Sakellarios*) deals, inter alia, with the production of spirits of turpentine 
x a ind of rosin and points out how important this industry is, the significance of which 
y nust not be under-rated. The total annual production of turpentine spirits in Greece 
amounts to 3 million kilograms; according to the method of production and the origin 
of the gum it contains 80 to 95 per cent. pure d-pinene (ap up to + 48°). The total 
amount of rosin produced annually reaches 12 to 13 million kilograms. 
In 1916 a firm has been established at Athens commanding a capital of 2 million 
_drachms and occupying itself with the production of turpentine spirits, rosin, essential 
oils, and ethers. During the blockade by the Allied Powers, pure turpentine oil (100 per cent.) 
was ‘used for illuminating purposes, and when mixed with 2 per cent. ether as: ‘substitute 
for ‘benzene. 
_ The Forest Authorities in the Punjab?) report on ihe production of rosin and 
‘turpentine in this district. During the year closing with June 30, 1918 the Jallo works, 
“founded in 1914, produced 16426 maunds rosin and 46709 maunds turpentine’). The — 
‘Governor has consented to reduce the selling-price of rosin and turpentine of Jallo 
7 origin by one-sixth compared with the price fixed for foreign brands. The turpentine 
industry is believed to expect a brilliant future. In course of the year, an area of only 
14521 acres was tapped, but it is expected that when the principal difficulties have 
aga overcome, ‘this area may be extended, in the Punjab as well as in the North- 
western Province, to the five-fold amount, thus raising the yield of rosin and turpentine 
: in the same degree. The chief obstacles barring a rapid extension of this industry were 
lack of labour and the transportation difficulties between the woods and the railway st ations. 
Numerous methods have been ciaried out for the determination of turpentine oil and 
the identification of its adulterations, amongst them the process employing: mercurous — 
and mercuric acetates which we dealt with occasionally in our Reports*).’ 
Balbiano*) studied the action of aqueous mercuric acetate on pinene and came to- 
: the result that the acetate forms no addition-product with pinene, but acts as oxidizing 
agent. This opinion is disapproved by J. Tausz*), who reports hereon in a paper giving 
2 several methods of estimating turpentine oil by means of double compounds with 
mercuric acetate. Tausz enumerates not less than eight different processes and describes 
"in detail an acidimetric, a gravimetric, and a volumetric method. Another method 
" worked out by Tausz in community with H. Wolf for the estimation of terpenes possibly 
present in crude petroleum has not been described further; by its aid it was easily 
possible to detect even 0.008 per cent. turpentine oil in mineral oils, but no terpenes 
were found thereby in crude petroleum’). : 
_’ When testing turpentine oil according to the acidimetric method Tausz proceeds 
wa s follows: —The solutions required are methylalcoholic potash solution and methyl- | 
Bee bolic sulphuric acid, both about decinormal (they need not be standardized exactly); 
saturated methylalcoholic mercuric chloride solution, also saturated potassium bromide 
or sodium chloride solution. For standardizing the solutions 10 cc. pure turpentine oil 
‘are placed in a 100 cc. measuring: flask and filled up with methyl alcohol; 10 cc. of 
: ’) Chem. Pidustric 41 (1918), 220. — 2) Nachr. f Hand., Ind. u. ae 1919, No. 61, p. 3. Cont! Report 
oe 1918, 47. — *%) Probably, it is the case of turpentine oil. — 4) Comp. Gildemeister and Hoffmann, 
¢ Volatile Oils, 2°4 ed., vol. Il, p. 29. — ®\Berichte 48 (1915), 395; Report October 1915, 77. — 8) Chem.-Ztg. 42 
918), 349. — 7) Coin. p. 130 of this Report, where the formation of cyclolinaloolene as a degradation-product ° 
fa Biacocarbon from a fish oil is described. As is well known, fish corpses, according to Engler, are Said 
te ave par an important part in the formation of petroleum. 
4* 
