Scientific and other notes on essential oils. 23 



Oil of Kaempferia Ethelae. This oil, occurring in the tubers of Sherungulu, which 

 E. Goulding and O. D. Roberts 1 ) have thoroughly investigated, has recently been distilled 

 again in the London Imperial Institute 2 ). The yield amounted to 0.45 to 0.55 per cent, 

 expressed on the moist material, and 1.80 to 2.35 per cent., expressed on the tubers 

 dried at 100° C. The oil showed the following constants: d 15 o 0.924; « D + 26°42'; 

 acid v. 1.0; ester v. 11.5; ester v. after acet. 33.6. The smell is unpleasant and is not 

 appreciated by perfumers; at best the oil might be used as a substitute for oil of spike 

 lavender, hence it would not be worth while to produce it. A further disadvantage it 

 shows is that the higher-boiling fractions of the oil have only a slight odour, hence 

 it lacks persistance. The tubers, on being freshly dug up, smell first of all of linalool 

 and of methyl anthranilate, the cineole odour only being noticed after cutting the tuber. 



Lavender Oil. In the Dokumente zu Englands Handelskrieg , edited by A. Hesse 

 and H. Grossmann 3 ), an article has been published on lavender oil at the Lyons and 

 Leipzig fairs, which we here publish in full, with regard to the great interest it has 

 for our branch of industry. It runs as follows: — 



"At Mr. Barlatier's lecture, on Sunday, July 23 rd , 1916, at Lyons, Mr. Herriot, 

 the mayor of our city and senator of the Rhone department, judiciously explained 

 that it would not suffice to put heavy duties, on the goods of the bodies, after 

 the war, in order to protect the French market against being flooded by them, 

 but that our country must make a decided start already now to manufacture those 

 goods, which, out of thoughtlessness, or, let us say it boldly, out of laziness, it 

 was used to buy from our enemies on the farther side of the Rhine. 



Mr. Herriot laid special stress on dyes, the wholesale suppliers of which the 

 bodies had become for France and which we must, in the future, manufacture at 

 all events in our own country. The same ought to be the case with floral oils. 



In the number of June 18 th last, Le Reveil National published, under the 

 heading: "An Industry to be developed in France", an article on the cultivation 

 of the rose for obtaining otto of roses, in order to free the French perfumery in- 

 dustry of the enormous tribute, paid before the war to our old and false friends, 

 the Bulgarians, from whom, year after year, otto of roses was bought at tremen- 

 dons prices. In 1909, the Bulgarian production amounted to 4316 kilos, 2336 kilos 

 of which, i. e. more than 54 per cent., were exported to France. Calculating the 

 value at the last price, which was 3500 Francs, it comes up to the considerable 

 sum of 8.17 million Francs. 



But there is another essential oil, the manufacture of which the bodies have 

 tried to monopolize, vis., oil of lavender. The firm of Schimmel in Leipzig erected 

 for this purpose, a few years ago, two very considerable factories: one at Barreme 

 (Basses-Alpes), the other at Sault (Vaucluse). Schimmel there distilled lavender 

 and spike flowers from the mountain districts of the Alps and the Mont Ventoux, 

 where the harvest is in full swing at present. 



Both factories are sequestered and it would seem as if the small distillers 

 of the region (150 in the Department of the Basses-Alpes alone) could now use 

 the flowers. Unfortunately, great numbers of them are at the front, apart from 

 those that have been killed in action, wounded, or made prisoners. On the other 

 hand, there is a scarcity of women for picking the flowers, as they are mostly 



x ) Journ. chem. Soc. 107 (1915), 314; Report October 1915, 24. — *) Bull. Imp. Inst. U (1916), 378. 

 *) Chem. Industrie 40 (1917), supplement to N° 24, p. 1120. — Le Reveil National (Lyons) Aug. 8 th , 1916. 



