COMMERCIAL AND SCIENTIFIC NOTES ON ESSENTIAL OILS. / 49 
: examined a pine-needle oil from Boras in Sweden, with an ester content of 5.15 per cent., 
and a specific gravity 0.879. Amongst the acids he only ascertained the presence 
of acetic acid by means of the silver salt. The terpene alcohol was isolated from the 
fraction boiling at from 200 to 212° according to the process of Tchugayeff’) by means 
of magnesium methyl iodide, and was identified as /-borneol with a melting point of 
- 203°. In the fractions boiling at from 190 to 200°, and from 212 to 225° could no 
other terpene alcohol be found. peal | the ester contained in pine-needle oil is 
-bornyl a 
Oil of ppuicmiin lanceolatum.— We can now enlarge upon the details re 
oil of Pycnanthemum lanceolatum, Pursh, given in our Report 1919, 42, since the original 
work of E. R. Miller*) stands at our disposal. From the air-dried flowering plants 
_P. lanceolatum, Pursh, collected in and around Madison, Wisconsin, Miller obtained by 
distillation 2.2 per cent. of a bright yellow oil with the following properties: — d2;0 0.917, 
&@ — 4.69, npicso 1.4881. The oil contained nearly 19.2 per cent. terpene, which Miller 
; Secisd by repeated distillation of the oil with equal quantities of alcohol, and diluting 
of the distillate with much water. Miller himself acknowledges that this method does - 
not permit of an exact estimation of the terpene. 
The various components of the oil already mentioned by us were identified as 
follows:— Carvacrol by the nitrosocarvacrol, m. p..152 to 153°, geraniol by the dipheny]- 
urethane m. p. 104°, the canlicheceanide m. p. 105 to 106°, the nitrolpiperidide 
- m.p. 140 to 141° (according to Wallach*) the nitrolbenzylamine has a m. p. of 109 to 110°, 
the nitrolpiperidide the m. p. 152° — accordingly the presence of dipentene cannot yet 
be regarded as absolutely certain), pulegone by the semicarbazone m. p. 169 to 1709; 
«-thujon?*) by the semicarbazone m. p. 175 to 176°. 
Oil of a small feat distillates obtained last year Cad this, from rue:raised 
for experimental purposes in Miltitz, may not be passed over without mention, since 
_ they may be of some interest. The fresh flowering plant of Ruta graveolens, L., was © 
_ used. The oils were of pale yellow colour —- reacted as follows: — 
* "1919 1920 
, ee ee a ns 0111 036 per cent.?) 0.000 per cent: 
Pia re ht: 9 1, 038492. 0.8450 
| Ee a na nee gy 2 iene 2 pet OAR tis: —0° 40’ 
. Mgaie 3+ - Pus it AG3SO me 1.43185 
Solidifying Gieeving) seine sles “ADOUES ae between — 6° and —7° 
- Solubility in 70 per cent. alcohol — sol. in 4.5 vol. sol. in 3 vol. 
with separation of paraffin. 
Part of the 1919 distilled oil was saponified, the acid value amounted to 1.5, the — 
ester value 71.4. From the low solidifying point it is to be assumed that methylheptyl- 
_ ketone prevailed amongst the ketones in both cases. 
Re illnesses apparently caused by oil of rue B. Rontsch*) reports: — All the girls 
who had to cut the rue (Ruta graveolens, L.) in the Ferrein Medical Plantations south 
_ of Moscow fell ill during the harvest. In the course of two hours at the longest, the 
& 1) Berl. Berichte 35 (1902) 3922. — %) Circular 2 (1918), Pharm. Exper. Stat., Univers. of Wisc. —_ 
 ») liedbig’s Annalen 252 (188), 125. — *) The presence of 4-thujone is probable, but not absolutely certain. — 
_ *) The somewhat higher yield is perhaps explained by the fact that the herbs were already bearing fruit. — 
_ % Heil- und Gewiirzpflanzen % (1919), 149. 
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