130 Report of Schimmel § Co. April/ October 1917. 



Dubsky mentions besides well-known examples of similarity in odour some which 

 are less' familiar. He adduces as examples of compounds smelling of oil of bitter 

 almonds not only benzaldehyde and nitrobenzene, but also nitro-thiophene, benzonitrile, 

 azimidobenzene, $c. He even avers that vanilline, ^-nitroguaiacol and ^-cyanoguaiacol 

 have the same odour. 



The resemblance in smell of bornylacetate and trichlorisobutylalcohol (solid acetone 

 chloroform) is said to be absolutely astounding. 



He also refers to numerous different compounds which smell of camphor, peppermint, 

 lemons, aniseed, and cinnamon, discusses the influence of the double and threefold 

 linkage, of the methyleneether group and of the methoxyle group on the aroma, and 

 finally that of the individual osmophorous groups. 



The chemism of odours is the title of an essay recently published by H. Henning 1 ) 

 to which we should like to draw the attention of our readers. He comes to the 

 conclusion — an opinion with which we fully agree — that the chemism of odours is 

 an ambiguous expression because compounds containing quite different osmophores 

 resemble each other in smell, whereas occasionally substances with identical osmo- 

 phores differ absolutely in scent. However, osmophores must in any case be present, 

 if the compound in question is to have any smell at all. 



In spite of all this, he tries to explain the similarity in scent of different compounds 

 by means of a series of diagrammatic formulas, whereby he classifies the various 

 odours as aromatic, flowery, camphoraceous, resinous, and empyreumatic 2 ). 



On the influence of volatile oils on the movement of the intestines. — A. L. Muirhead 

 and H. F. Gerald 3 ) have investigated the question of the effect of American pennyroyal 

 oil, tansy oil, wormwood oil, turpentine oil, oil of rue, anise oil, savin oil, and of 

 thymol on isolated sections of the intestines. All of these retarded the spontaneous 

 movements of the intestines in concentrations averaging 1:5000 to 1:10000; a few, 

 especially anise oil, oil of turpentine, and wormwood oil, even in concentrations 

 between 1:25000 and 1:50000. 



Aromatics as medicines. — O. Anselmino*) discusses the importance of aromatics as 

 medicines in a perspicuous form, easily comprehensible even for the uninitiated. The 

 number of distilled waters and alcoholic preparations containing essential oils, but 

 especially the number of the essential oils themselves, mentioned in the official 

 pharmacopoeias, has changed. Whereas, e.g., the Pharmacopcea Borussica ed. IV. of 1827 

 contained only 18, the Pharmacopcea Borussica ed. VII. of 1862, however, 30 essential 

 oils, and the first German pharmacopoeia, the Pharmacopcea Germanica of 1872, 32, their 

 number has sunk again to 20 in the 5 th ed. of the German pharmacopoeia, 1910 s ). 

 The official list of prices of medicines, however, which comprises a wider range of 

 drugs than come into consideration for the requirements of the pharmacopoeia, stipu- 

 lates for the pharmaceutical chemists the maximum prices of about 50 essential oils. 



judging by the number of essential oils in the pharmacopoeia, one would think 

 that at least a good many of them had certain peculiar medicinal properties. However, 

 this is not the case to such an extent. Most of them only serve to improve the taste 

 and smell of the medicines, and even this way of using them has diminished. 



*) Deutsche Parf.-Ztg. 3 (1917), 125. — 2 ) Zeitschr. f. Psychologie 73 (1915), 161. — *) Journ. Pharm. 

 Therap. 8 (1916), 253; Chem. Zentralbl. 1916, II. 504. — 4 ) Deutsche Parf.-Ztg. 3 (1917), 309, 321. — B ) Comp. 

 Report April 1911, 124. 



