- 65 - 
sufficient guarantee hereof. We confine ourselves in this instance to once 
more confirming the fact of the d ex trogy ration, with the reservation 
that we may possibly return to the subject later on. 
Thyme Oil. The principal producers of this oil were up to now 
France, Algeria and Spain. Recently, however, Cyprus seems also to 
come under consideration. 
According to the Annual Report of the Director of Horticulture 
in Cyprus, the production of thyme oil in this island, in the financial 
year 1901 — 2, was 1086 lbs., against 615 lbs. in 1900 — i, and 
237 lbs. in 1899 — 1900. Of the quantity distilled in 1901 — 2, 
871Y2 lbs. were sold to Leipzig. Although the distillation of oil of 
thyme is a new branch of industry, it has, as the above figures show, 
already acquired fairly important dimensions, and is making rapid 
progress. 
As the flowering herb of thyme, from which thyme oil is distilled, 
is gathered chiefly in the fiscal forests, the Government derives an 
annually increasing profit from this industry, whilst at the same time work 
is provided for the poorest classes of the rural population of the island. 
The plant grows at present only in the wild state, and that chiefly 
in the forests. In view of the advantages derived from this industry, 
it is believed that the cultivation in various parts of the island would 
prove remunerative. 
We would here point out that so far we ourselves have received 
no offers from this new source, and that we are not in a position to 
confirm the correctness of the above statements. 
Oil of Tuberose Blossoms, In our last Report i), we occupied 
ourselves with the essential oil of tuberose blossoms, which had been 
produced by us by steam distillation of 100 grams blossom-extract. 
The quantity of the essential oil obtained in this manner was 5 grams, 
and served for some preliminary examinations which we made by way 
of preparation of the more detailed examination of this hitherto almost 
completely unknown oil. These preliminary examinations proved that 
the essential oil of tuberose blossoms has a blue fluorescence; from 
this, according to the observations made by us with oil of orange 
blossoms and other blossom - oils , the presence of methyl ester of 
anthranilic acid appeared very probable. We were also able by saponi- 
fication of the oil to isolate benzoic acid of the melting point 122^, 
which is present in the oil in the form of ester. This ester was not 
attacked by potassium permanganate solution, was fairly volatile with 
steam and reminded in the odour of methyl ester of benzoic acid. 
For the exact identification the quantity was too small. 
^) Report April 1903, 74. 
5 
