96 
RACING, AS A MEANS OF 
As it appeared desirable to have an authentic specimen of oil 
of origanum for comparison, a quantity of the herb was procured, 
and distilled with water in the ordinary way. The plant, which 
was chiefly collected in the neighbourhood of Sheerness, was 
quite fresh, and very fully in flower when submitted to distilla- 
tion. It afforded an exceedingly small amount of yellow oil, 
seventy pounds producing scarcely an ounce. This small pro- 
duce may, in part, be attributed to the coolness and humidity of 
the weather for some time before the plant was collected, as it 
is evident, from the following passage in Brande’s “Dictionary 
of Materia Medica,” that a much larger amount of oil is usually 
obtained. This author states, “ The average produce of essential 
oil from this herb (origanum) is one pound from two hundred 
weight ; but it varies exceedingly with the season and culture 
of the plant.” 
Contrasted with oil of thyme, oil of origanum is distinguished 
by the following characters : — 
1. Odour, which is somewhat analogous to that of oil of 
peppermint, and entirely dissimilar from that of oil of thyme. 
2. Colour, which in oil of origanum is bright yellow, while 
the ordinary kind of oil of thyme is of a more or less deep 
reddish-brown. 
The specific gravity of the two oils is so nearly alike as to 
afford no distinctive criterion. That of oil of origanum is *8854, 
of oil of thyme (average of three samples) *8934, at 62°Fahr. 
Pharmaceutical Journal, Jan. 1851. 
Foreign Extracts. 
RACING CONSIDERED AS A MEANS OF IMPROVING 
BREEDS OF HORSES FOR GENERAL USE, 
AND FOR MILITARY SERVICE. 
This constitutes a most important question in the animal pro- 
duction of a country. A people deprived of so precious a locomo- 
tive as horses afforded them, lose the use of the most influential 
elements of their well-being and civilization, as well as of their 
defence in the event of war. And it evidently becomes their 
duty to render so admirable an auxiliary of as good quality as 
they can. 
In the arts and manufactures the price of an article is regulated 
