— II — 
grounds we may designate the condition "that anethol shall solidify 
at 2 2^^ to 23 as inconclusive. We guarantee that our anethol is 
absolutely pure, and that it cannot be surpassed by any other make, 
neither in its physical constants, nor in its fine aroma and richness. 
In our Report of April 1896, page 8, we discussed a work by 
Bouchardat and Tardy on the composition of Russian anise oil. In 
this work, fenchone and anisic ketone were mentioned as new bodies. 
The presence of the former, and the fact that the oil was dextrogyre, 
appeared to us to prove beyond doubt that the oil was adulterated 
with fennel oil For this reason we questioned the presence of 
fenchone and anisic ketone in anise oil. 
In consequence of our indications, Tardy 2) has again taken up 
the examination of Russian anise oil, and in this case of a material 
of which the purity had been guaranteed. The optical rotation was 
— 3° 24'. This examination proved that fenchone is not present in 
anise oil. Our statements as to the rotatory power ^) are also con- 
firmed. The anisic ketone was again detected in this oil^ and described 
as follows: a mobile liquid, of the boiling point 263°; dQ = 1,095; 
melting point of the semicarbazone 182°. The odour of the ketone 
reminds slightly of oil of bitter almonds. It combines with sodium 
bisulphite, and oxidises on exposure to the air into acetic and anisic 
acids. The same products are formed upon oxidation with potassium 
permanganate. For this reason Tardy gives the ketor^e the formula 
Q (OCH3) CH2 COCH3. 
The view which we expressed^), that anisic ketone may possibly be 
identic with Wallach's ethyl-anisyl ketone^), is refuted by the author. 
The ketone ofWallach, produced by Tardy for purposes of comparison, 
does not combine with sodium bisulphite. On the other hand, the 
properties of paramethoxyphenyl acetone, obtained by Behal andTiffe- 
neau^), agree with those of anisic ketone; the oximes of both melt 
at 72^. Further, the ketone Q (OCH3)CH2 CO CH3, obtained from 
anethol by Toennies^) has, like anisic ketone, the boiling point 264^^. 
A. Klages^) reports on syntheses of anethol and homologous 
unsaturated phenol ethers. According to Friedel-Crafts' method, 
1) Compt. rend. 122 (1896), 198. 
^) These pour Pobtention du diplome de Docteur de I'Universite de Paris, 
page II (1902). 
^) Report April 1897, 6. 
^) Report April 1896, 9. 
^) Berliner Berichte 28 (1895), 2714. 
^) Bull. Soc. chim. III. 25 (1901), 275. 
^) Berliner Berichte 20 (1887), 2984. 
^) Berliner Berichte 35 (1902), 2262. 
