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same degree the difficulty of obtaining oils which answer our test 
("Schimmel's test"), but that in the severe competition in the purchase 
of the oil, the conditions are occasionally winked at in order to 
secure the parcel offered. A natural consequence is that the pro- 
ducers are spoilt by such tolerance. 
One of the firms in the trade stated that our test, if correctly 
carried out, was quite sufficient to obtain a good oil; that the Galle 
native dealers know this perfectly well, and offer only unobjectionable 
qualities of oil to those purchasers who insist on the test being carried 
out correctly. For this reason we believe that if in the purchase of 
the oil the same care were again exercised as formerly, a normal quality 
of oil would soon be again the order of the day. The present state 
of affairs is most annoying for all who are connected with the citron- 
ella-oil trade. 
The above-mentioned extensive adulteration of Ceylon citronella 
oil has recently led to the publication of a large number of com- 
munications^), which partly attempt to clear up the question of the 
character of the adulterant, and partly offer suggestions for remedying the 
evil. The general opinion is that on the one hand the rapid fall in 
the prices is the direct cause of the adulteration, and on the other, 
that the abnormally low prices without adulteration are quite impossible, 
as they cannot even cover the distillation - expenses. Under these 
circumstances the prevailing conditions have become absolutely untenable, 
so much so that the Government has been induced to take counter- 
measures. Thus, the question of the own cultivation of citronella-grass 
has been under consideration, in order to prove to the distillers that 
it is possible to supply a better quality of oil. 
With regard to the adulterant, Parry maintains that resin -spirit 
is added to the oil, and he states inter alia that, clearly as a result 
of the publication of his notes, large quantities of resin -spirit have 
lately been exported from England to Ceylon, which are undoubtedly 
intended for dishonest purposes. 
On the other hand, several persons well acquainted with the state 
of affairs in Ceylon declare that petroleum is the only adulterant which 
comes under consideration, and that mostly Russian petroleum (which 
can nowadays be readily obtained in Ceylon in any desired quantity) 
instead of the American oil which was at one time used. The differ- 
ences between the two kinds of petroleum are believed to have led 
Parry to the erroneous view that it was a question of adulteration 
with resin-spirit. 
This question is difficult to decide for this reason, that we have 
here to deal with bodies of very similar compositions, and that nothing 
^) The Chemist and Druggist 62 (1903), 630, 689, 985, 999. 
