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COMMERCIAL AND SCIENTIFIC NOTES ON ESSENTIAL OILS. 43 
Parsnip Root Oil.— By making a decoction of the dried roots of Pastinaca sativa, — 
L.1). H. W. van Urk obtained an oil?) of a pleasant penetrating smell, and possessing 
the following properties: — dic 1.077; # — 0°39’; Ngo 1.0328. It contained small 
quantities of vanillin, neither nitrogen nor shdpinur, also acids and phenols not in 
noticeable quantities: —A few weakly doubly-refractive needle-shaped crystals were 
obtained from the oil. 
Peppermint Oil, American.— The prices for American peppermint oil are still 
so high that they cannot enter into competition with the finest qualities prepared 
chiefly from Japanese oil which, rule the European market, and hence for the time 
being the demand of our New York friends for the brands so beloved before the War, 
has entirely ceased. The last quotation was § © per lb. for pure crude oil. The result. 
.of this year’s distillation is described as normal. 5 
As is known, the American Pharmacopeeia, 9th edition, requires an ester content 
-(menthy! acetate) of at least 5 per cent., and a total menthol content of at least 
50 per cent.*). Already from the work pisblishdd by Rabak*) in Bulletin 454 it goes 
forth that the menthol content as a matter of fact,- increases with the growth of the 
plant, and that in most cases it amounted to less than 50 per cent. 
This discovery was confirmed in the exhaustive investigations carried out by 
Fritzsche Bros., Inc.,. New York, with peppermint oil from Michigan. They examined . 
all lots pereried by them in 1916, and collected the results in several tables, the 
average value of which is here announced: — . 
Peppermint_Oil. Total Menthol. Esters. 
Entering from 14. VIII. to 30.1X. 1916 27130 Ibs. 19911 Ibs. = 47.59 per cent. 821.4 Ibs. = 6.33 per cent. 
. x Steg Py. ide Md. 1916-18946 ° DSBS) 5. 0 = 49-5851, NOW RS eeeaie—a he Dna ti an 
e ede? 2IOKIT. 1916". 18087. 5 O286 a nO, O43" 2, 19O2. Bure tat aOO. 4, etl 
Total Quantities: 64163 Ibs. 31585 Ibs. = 49.23 per cent. 4409 Ibs. = 6.87 per cent. 
‘According to the above table, only the oil obtained in the late season satisfies 
the demands of the American Pharmacopceia with regard to the menthol content. On 
the other hand the ester content exceeds the lowest limit in all cases, and also 
otherwise the oils were of a very fine taste, and conformed to the pharmacopeeia. 
The low menthol content of the peppermint oil, which first became noticeable after the 
beginning of the War, must be chiefly ascribed to the circumstance that the planters, in 
consequence of the shortage of potash salts, could no longer manure their fields as 
formerly. Nevertheless, the deficiency of menthol diminished in no way the quality and fine 
taste of the oil, which in most cases is the decisive factor in passing judgement on it, and 
it were desirable that allowance were made for this fact in the American Pharmacopeeia. 
Peppermint Oil, Chinese.— Only a few investigations are available re Chinese 
_ peppermint oil obtained near Hong Kong probably from Mentha canadensis var. glabrata, 
Gray’). Y. Shinosaki has recently published the following information®). Chinese 
peppermint oil has a bright brown colour, a rather unpléasant odour, a bitter taste, . 
and the following constants:— d,;o 0.9091, [«] — 35° (in chloroform), no 1.4627, saponi- 
fication value 29, ester value after acetylation 233, ester menthol 8.08 per cent., free 
menthol 70.75 per cent.; ketone (as menthone) 12.88 per cent. 
1) Cf. Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, 2.4 ed., vol. Ill, page 378. — 2%) Pharm. Weekblad 
1919, 1390. According to Heil- und Gewiirzpflanzen 3 (1920), 196. — *) Cf. Report 1918, 57. — 4) Cf. Report 
1917, 36. — *) Cf. Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, 294 ed., vol. III, p.549. — 8%) Journ. chem. 
_ Ind. Tokyo 22 (1919), 458. According to Journ. Soc. chem. Industry 38 (1919), A. 877. 
— 
4 
