— 31 — 
When the English market of clove oil was recently sounded, the 
examination of eleven oils from nine different sources gave the results 
enumerated in the table on page 30. 
These samples are kept in safe custody by us. 
It will be seen from this table that the article is in no better 
condition in England than anywhere else, and that only experts can 
estimate offers of clove oil at their correct value. It is here of course 
also a case of the cheapest oils being the worst. 
Coffee Oil. E. Erdmann^) communicates an examination of 
the composition of the essential oil present in roasted coffee beans. 
The author obtained, by distilling 150 kilos ground coffee beans 
with steam under pressure, and extracting the distillate with ether, 
a yield of 83,5 g, equal to 0,0557 per cent, of a brown oil with a 
strong odour of coffee, which had the specific gravity 1,0844 16°. 
The oil boiled at ordinary pressure between 150 to 230°, with de- 
composition. The chemical examination of the oil showed, that, apart 
from traces of acetic acid, it consists up to 42 per cent of valeric 
acid (methyl ethyl acetic acid). After removing the acids with soda 
liquor, the bulk of the residue of the coffee oil distilled over at 
169 to 171°. This fraction was found to be furfur alcohol with a 
small quantity of furfurol. From the higher boiling portions, from 
which the phenols had been removed, a small quantity, 0,89 g, of an 
oil could be isolated, which possessed the coffee odour in a high degree. 
This oil distilled at 13 mm at 93°, and contained 9,71 per cent 
nitrogen. The fraction containing the characteristic aromatic substance 
of roasted coffee will be the subject of a special examination. The 
author was still able to prove that this body is very sensitive towards 
mineral acids, and with the latter, as products of decomposition, 
forms substances with a pyridine-like odour. 
In connection with this examination some data are given on the 
properties of furfur alcohol. For the detection of this alcohol, its diphenyl 
carbamic acid ester is recommended, which is formed from the alcohol 
by heating it with diphenyl urea chloride and pyridine. The ester 
forms needles of a faint yellow colour, of the meltmg point 98°. The 
pharmacological examination of furfur alcohol showed, that it must be 
considered a poison, which in men, in doses of 0,6 to i g, causes 
respiratoiy frequency, and in rabbits, in doses of 0,5 to 0,6 g per 
kilo weight of the animal, has a fatal effect in consequence of paralysis 
of the respiratory organs. 
Oil from Manila Copal. Tschirch and Koch 2) have added 
the essential oil of Manila copal to the number of oils examined by 
^) Berliner Berichte 35 (1902), 1846. 
-) Archiv d. Pharm. 240 (1902), 202. 
