Scientific and other notes on essential oils. 13 



The duration of the distilling process has also some effect on the production of 

 prussic acid; leaves which were thrown into boiling water and then immediately distilled 

 gave a cherry laurel water only containing 0.0175 per cent, of prussic acid. 



In connection with these facts we report on some directions by O. Rossler 1 ) on 

 the production of cherry laurel water which according to this author might quite well 

 be employed instead of bitter almond water. North Africa and the South of France 

 are our principal purveyors for bitter almonds. As, however, we are prevented under 

 present circumstances from obtaining them from these countries, we are compelled to 

 use substitutes in the shape of our indigenous plants, unless we follow the example of 

 the English and Americans by using diluted prussic acid instead of bitter almond water. 



The cherry laurel, Prunus Laurocerasus, L. (N. O. Rosacea?) is widely disseminated 

 in the South and South-west of Germany as a tree and bush and could easily, 

 according to Rossler, supply all our demands for a substitute for bitter almond water. 

 Rossler gathered from the literature he had at hand that cherry laurel water had 

 always played a part in the medical works of Southern Germany and further that as 

 a concession towards South-German ideas it had been accepted by the first German 

 Pharmacopoeia, a position it had, however, subsequently to relinquish in favour of 

 bitter almond water. 



n As a result of his investigations Rossler is inclined to recommend the following 

 method for producing cherry laurel water: — 



One part of cherry laurel leaves from the oldest trees available is gathered in July 

 or August, cut up, macerated, and, after mixing with 3 parts of water, is left standing 

 in a retort for 24 hours, whereupon 3 / 4 of the mixture is distilled into a receiver, con- 

 taining 0.2 parts of alcohol, air being excluded during the process. The residue of 

 the leaves is distilled again after a period of 3 weeks, yielding one-half part of a 

 second running for standardizing the first runnings. In case the percentage of prussic 

 acid contained in cherry laurel leaves of German origin were less than that usually 

 found in the foreign product, one might consider the question of standardizing the 

 palpably very aromatic distillate by the addition of benzaldehyde-cyanohydrine. In any 

 case, a really aromatic smelling and tasting cherry laurel water, prepared in this manner, 

 would be infinitely preferable to the artificial products usually put on the -market. 



Cinnamon Oil. A critical discussion of the testing methods adopted by the 

 German Pharmacopoeia, 5 th ed., is to be found on page 83. 



Oil of Cinnamomum Oliveri. Cinnamomum Oliver i, Bail. (N. O. Lauracece) ("Brisbane 

 Sassafras") is a handsome tree with grey, rough bark which is to be found in the "Scrubs" 

 of Queensland, also of New South Wales. The bark oil has already been described a 

 number of years ago by H. G. Smith, an account to which R. T. Baker 2 ) referred at the 

 time. Smith published the following list of components: cineole, eugenol (?), cinnam- 

 aldehyde(?) and a stearoptene which separated on cooling to — 12°. G. W. Hargreaves 3 ) 

 arrived at quite different results, when he recently investigated the oil thoroughly. He 

 could find no trace either of cineole, cinnamaldehyde, nor of eugenol. Nor could he 

 verify Smith's statement, according to which the oil contained no low-boiling terpenes. 

 One is inclined to believe that the original plant of both oils differed, one must, 



x ) Arch, der Pharm. 255 (1917), 151. — 2 ) Comp. Gildemeister and Hoffmann, The Volatile Oils, 2 nd ed., 

 vol. II, p. 440. — 3 ) Journ. chem. Soc. 109 (1916), 751. 



