— 14 — 
content 61^/^; soluble in 0,4 and more volumes 80 ^/q alcohol; the 
dilute solution shows opalescence. Most striking are the considerably 
higher specific gravity and the ready solubility of the oil. 
From an abstract from the „West Indian Bulletin"^) it appears 
that the island of Dominica is the centre of the bay oil and bay rum 
industries and trades. The manufacture of bay rum is carried on 
chiefly at St. Thomas, where the leaves are imported from St. John's, 
Dominica, and other islands. In recent years, however, the export 
from Dominica has fallen off considerably; for, whilst for example in 
1898 the exports had a value of 1372, their value in 1902 was 
only £ 490. The cause of this decrease must be attributed to the 
fact that, since the annexation of Porto Rico by the United States, 
large quantities of bay leaves are shipped from Porto Rico to St. Thomas, 
where they are admitted free of import duty. But as the Porto Rico 
leaves are mainly the produce of *'Bois dTnde citron", and, owing to 
the taste and odour of lemon, are said to be useless for the pre- 
paration of the best qualities of bay oil and bay rum, it may be 
expected that the trade in bay leaves will soon again acquire its former 
dimensions, the more so, as the leaves from Dominica are the best. 
Oil of Boldo leaves. The oil of boldo leaves which are used 
as a remedy in affections of the liver, has been submitted to a 
chemical examination by E. Tardy 2). The oil, obtained by him, in 
a yield of slightly under 2 ^/q, by distillation from the dried leaves, 
had a brownish - green colour and the specific gravity 0,876; 
= — 6^30^ By extracting boldo oil with potash lye, the 
author obtained a small quantity of a phenol which was identified as 
eugenol by the vanillin odour occurring during the oxidation. An 
aldehyde isolated by means of bisulphite solution was found to be 
cuminic aldehyde. Of esters, a small quantity of acetic acid esters 
could be detected. When submitting boldo oil to fractional distillation 
(from 150^ to 225°), Tardy found that the lowest-boiling portions 
were dextrorotatory; the following fractions showed a decreasing dextro- 
rotation, and subsequently a constantly increasing Isevorotation, which 
again diminished in the last fractions. In saturating the fraction passing 
over from 155° to 173° with dry hydrochloric acid gas, and sub- 
sequently fractionating the reaction -product in vacuo (3 cm), he ob- 
tained chiefly two portions which passed over respectively between 
90° and 100° and 125° and 135°; by submitting these to a low 
temperature they were obtained in crystalline form, and were identified 
by their melting points of 125° and 50° respectively as pinene mono- 
hydrochloride and dipentene dihydrochloride. It follows that boldo 
^) Chemist and Druggist 64 (1904), 188. 
2) Journ. Pharm. Chim. VI, 19 (1904), 132. 
