4 BULLETIN 803, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. | 
lated mannit from the immature olives, but more recently Hart- 
wich and Uhlmann? declared that its presence had not been con- 
clusively shown, and stated that they could not detect it. These 
authors, who followed microscopically the development from bud to 
fruit, state that there is no starch in the olive at any stage, with the 
exception of cells adjoining the stomata. These writers also re- 
ported that glucose was present in almost all stages of developmertt, 
and they believed it to be the substance from which the oil is formed. 
Of interest is the glucoside discovered by Bourquelot and Vintilesco ? 
and named by them “oleuropein.” Subsequently * they isolated it 
in a state of comparative purity, finding it powerfully levorotatory 
and yielding d-glucose on hydrolysis by dilute acid or emulsine. 
They reported it as possessing a strongly bitter taste, which is of 
special interest, since it thus appears probable that this is the sub- 
stance, or at least one of the substances, which gives to fresh olives, 
both in their green and ripe state, their intensely bitter flavor, mak- 
ing it impossible to eat them until the bitter principle has been re- 
moved by the pickling process. Also Bourquelot and Vintilesco,* 
by the use of invertine, claim to have demonstrated the probable 
presence of very small amounts of sucrose in the olive. 
A number of studies on the ripening of the olive in Europe are 
given in the literature on this subject. De Luca seems to have been 
the first investigator,> beginning in 1861. He showed the increase 
‘in the volume and weight of the fruit and that the oil increased gradu- 
ally from the time the pit was formed. In 1878, Roussille® pub- 
lished analyses following the ripening and showing an increase of 
oil in the fruit fiesh from about 1 per centin July to 34 per cent at the 
end of November. Funaro published similar analyses,’ tracing the 
oil in the fruit flesh from a very low figure in the latter part of July 
to 27 per cent in late February. Hartwich and Uhlmann, studying 
fruit from San Remo; distinguished three periods of development. 
In the first, covering approximately July and August, the pit was 
forming, and the oil content, on a basis of the whole fruit, increased 
from about 0.5 per cent to 5 per cent. In the second period, Septem- 
ber and October, the pit increased little, while the flesh and oil in- 
creased rapidly. In the third period, from October to January, the 
oil increased slowly until there was 30 per cent in the fruit flesh, 
which finally declined to nearly 25 per cent in the middle of Feb- 
ruary. De Luca had noted a similar decrease in oil at the end of the 
i Arch. Pharm. (1902), vol. 240, p. 475. 
2J. pharm. chim. (6th ser.) (1908), vol. 28, p. 303. Compt rend. (1908), vol. 147, 
p. 533. 
2J,. pharm. chim. (7th ser.) (1910), vol. 1, p. 292. 
4J. pharm. chim. (6th ser.) (1908), vol. 28, p. 303 (7th ser.) (1910), vol. 1, p. 292. 
5 Rend. accad. sci. Napoli, for 1861 and following years (original source not available). 
6Compt. rend. (1878). vol. 86, p. 610. 2 
7 Landw. Vers-Sta. (1880), vol. 25, p. 52. 
