- 85 - 
that the same factors operate here, as in the case of the Tonquin 
product, for the two star -anise districts are in immediate proximity. 
In conformity with what we indicated in our October Report, 
the yield of the distillation in Tonquin has fallen enormously below 
that of other years, and even allowing for the usual exaggeration may 
scarcely amount to one half of an average crop. In December it was 
reported from there that the first estimate of 200 cases was found to 
have been too low, as much oil was kept hidden in the villages by 
Chinese merchants and mandarins. The inhabitants have become sus- 
picious, in a manner beyond comprehension, of the "Secret Societies" 
which work on the population and against which the French Autho- 
rities are powerless. 
According to reports from the same source, a large Chinese firm 
at Nan-ning-foo on the Canton river has purchased 246 cases Ton- 
quin oil of excellent quality, which are intended to be mixed with oil 
from Pak-se solidifying at only 12° and which has been refused 
at Hong Kong; by these means a quantity of from 500 to 600 cases 
can be brought to a solidifying point of -|- 14°. 
In view of the present situation, higher prices will have to be 
reckoned on in the near future. It is said that some 500 cases are 
held in London in one hand, and will not be sold at the present 
quotations. In Hamburg fairly large speculative stocks are also in 
existence. 
Tansy OiL The cultivation of the plant and distillation of the 
oil were carried on in the year 1902 in St. Joseph County, in the 
State of Michigan, by 2 growers ^). The area under cultivation amounted 
to 52 acres from which 341 lbs. oil of tansy were obtained. The yield 
per acre amounts therefore to 13 lbs. oil. 
Turpentine Oil. For the purpose of determining mineral oil 
which may possibly be present in oil of turpentine, by Burton's method, ■ — 
viz., treatment of the oil with one and a half times the volume fuming 
nitric acid at reduced temperature, — H.Herzfeld^) has constructed 
a small apparatus by means of which the determination can conveniently 
be accomplished, and which makes it also possible to read off directly 
the quantity of the mineral oils not attacked by the nitric acid. For 
details we would refer to the literature mentioned below. 
In a further publication^) Herzfeld proposes the use of concentrated 
sulphuric acid instead of fuming nitric acid; he proceeds as follows: 
^) Twentieth Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor of the State of Michigan, 
p. 447. 
^) Zeitschrift f. off. Chemie 8 (1902), 446, according to Chem. Centralblatt 
1903, I, 258. 
^) Zeitschrift f. off. Chemie 9 (1903), 454, according to Chem. Centralblatt 
1904, 1. 548. 
