lO 
In Roumelia the cultivation of anise is constantly increasing, 
and this may ultimately have some effect on the general market-quo- 
tations of this article. The Roumelian seed is of a very uniform grain 
and very pure. Its aroma is exquisite. In view of the cheap prices, 
this year's harvest must have given a good result. 
We have not yet received more detailed reports on the results of 
this year's harvest in Spain, whose product excels all others in point 
of quality. The price paid for this variety is so high, owing to its 
beautiful appearance and the incomparable purity, that it cannot come 
under consideration for the oil- manufacture. 
If the production of anethol depended on one single variety of 
anise, there is no doubt that the price of this important product would 
have to be raised. But this is, fortunately, not the case and we 
are in a position to offer our anethol, the quality of which is 
unsurpassed, still at moderate terms. As is well known, we were the 
first to take up the manufacture of anethol. 
Apopin Oil. On this hitherto unknown oil , a treatise has 
appeared in Japanese language^) which we have had translated, and 
of which we give here a somewhat abridged but partly literal repro- 
duction. It is entitled: "On the constituents of an essential oil of 
Formosa", "apopin oil", or "Shu-yu", by K. Keimazu, translated 
by T. Kumagai. 
In Formosa an essential oil is produced, whose odour greatly 
resembles that of camphor, and which the natives call "Shu-yu". 
When Professor Schimoyama undertook a scientific journey in that 
district, he found that the name "Shu-yu" (evil-smelling oil) was not 
very appropriate, and he gave to the oil the name "apopin oil", Oleum 
apopinense, in view of the producing district Aupin. This oil is pro- 
duced in Central Formosa, and also in the North Eastern districts, 
the quantity, as I have been told, being about 4 to 5 million kin 
per annum. But as the production of this essential oil is entirely in 
the hands of the natives, it was up to now impossible to obtain more 
definite data as to the quantity, and there is also some uncertainty 
as to the plant itself. As the collection of preparations at the Uni- 
versity only possesses one specimen of the plant, it is difficult to 
compare it with other camphor trees and to come to a decision. 
There appears, however, to be no doubt that the plant which yields 
apopin belongs to the lauraceae. As the natives mix this "Shu-yu" 
with oil of camphor, and place it on the market as camphor oil, the 
Formosan Government has recently taken stronger measures by exer- 
cising more strict control over the cutting of the trees and the destil- 
lation of the oil. 
^) Journal of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan No. 253, March 1903. 
