12 Report of Schimmel $ Co. April/October 1917. 



of a fatty oil can be obtained; if the kernels are pressed without the shells, even 

 30 per cent, are obtainable; the press-cake yields about 1 per cent, of a volatile oil. 

 The qualities of the fatty oil are the following: — 



solidification 

 daBo n D2 50 point. sapon. v. iodine v. 



Oil produced from whole stones . . 0.9137 1.4641 +12° 179.7 93.7 

 Oil from kernels freed from shells . 0.9092 1.4635 -j- 13° 180.8 92.8 



The volatile oil gave the following results: d 4 o 1.012; it contained 7.94 per cent, 

 prussic acid and 67.95 per cent, benzoic acid. The product we distilled showed the 

 following characteristics: di 5 o 1.0532, and contained 0.27 per cent, of prussic acid. 

 Accordingly the oil described by Rabak showed very different qualities to that we 

 produced; we are inclined to suspect, however, that the statement, according to which 

 Rabak's oil contained 67.95 per cent, of benzoic acid, must be attributed to a misprint, 

 or possibly it was a case of a very strongly oxidized oil which can not have been 

 liquid at ordinary temperature. 



Cherry Laurel Oil. According to A. Saint-Sernin 1 ), it is useless to reduce the leaves 

 of cherry laurel into small pieces in order to prepare cherry laurel water. From 60 kg. 

 of leaves which had not been cut up beforehand and were macerated for 16 hours, he 

 obtained 60 litres of cherry laurel water with a prussic acid content of 0.144 per cent.; 

 another trial without maceration produced 0.123 per cent, of prussic acid. 



Navarre 2 ) obtained from 1314 kg. of macerated leaves 1314 litres of cherry laurel 

 water with 0.1288 per cent, prussic acid. This obliges one to conclude that maceration 

 is in point of fact useless; as, however, M. Bridel and N. Delabriere 3 ) remark, this 

 question can only be solved by comparative tests with leaves from the same tree and 

 gathered at the same time. With this object in view they collected on Jan. 13 th , 1915, 

 20vkg. of leaves from the same tree and divided them into portions of 2 kg. each. 

 Of these various parcels of leaves, 



the first parcel was thrown into a distilling apparatus without being cut up at all ; 



the second was also not cut up, but macerated for 16 hours and then distilled; 



the third parcel was cut up with a pair of scissors into narrow strips and im- 

 mediately distilled; 



the fourth parcel was disintegrated in a machine 4 ) and then immediately distilled. 



These 4 tests were made on the same day the leaves were gathered. On the 

 following day 4 more parcels were treated in the same manner and finally on the 

 third day the remainder was collected, disintegrated, and immediately distilled. 



The authors used for each 2 kg. of leaves 8 kg. of distilled water. 



The results of the trials were as follows: — 



Prussic acid content: 

 Cherry laurel water produced from: on the ]st day on the 2^ day 3 rd day. 



Whole leaves without maceration 0.0918 per cent. 0.0817 per cent. 



after v „ 0.0931 „ „ 0.0999 „ „ 



Leaves cut up by scissors. . . 0.1201 „ „ 0.1188 „ „ — 



„ „ „ in a machine . . 0.1701 „ „ 0.1552 „ „ 0.1644 per cent. 



Disintegration of the leaves produces evidently a rise in the prussic acid content. 



*) Bull, des trae. de la Soc. de Pharm. de Bordeaux 52 (1912), 431; Journ. de Pharm. et Chim. 6 (1912), 511. 

 — 2 ) Ibidem VII. 3 (1911), 15. — a ) ibidem VII. 11 (1915), 110. — 4 ) As to the construction of this machine, 

 comp. M. Bridel, ibidem VI. 26 (1907), 21. 



