13 * 
Baarmann and Reimer during the period 1891-1896 apparently 
under an agreement to avoid competition in prices. About 1897, 
however, a period of competition set in between the French and 
German makes, which was further accentuated by additions, in 
France, Germany and Switzerland, to the number of firms making 
vanillin. The result has been that the price of this product, which 
was £g per lb. in 1890, has steadily fallen until in November last it 
was quoted at ^1.1.4 per lb. It is probable that all the vanillin so 
far placed on the market has been made from eugenol , and its price 
has therefore been governed by that of oil of cloves as the raw pro- 
duct. In igoi, however, a patent (No. 310,983) was taken out in 
France bv VlGNE, in which an electrolytic method for the prepara- 
tion of vanillin from sugar was described. If the claims of the 
inventor are borne out by practical trials on an industrial scale, it 
probable that a further reduction in price may be expected, 
owing to the great difference in cost of the two raw products 
eugenol and sugar. 
There is no trustworthy information as to the extent to which 
artificial vanillin is manufactured and used at the present time, hut 
to judge from the number of firms engaged in its production the 
amount must be considerable. 
As regards the effect of the manufacture and sale- of “ artificial 
vanillin ” upon the demand for vanilla, it is remarkable that this 
has up to the present been comparatively slight. W hen it is con- 
sidered that vanilla is employed principally as a flavouring agent, 
and that its value in this respect depends upon the amount of 
vanillin it contains, it is curious that so recently as November last 
good qualities of vanilla should be saleable at 17/- to 19/60?. per lb. 
whilst the equivalent amount of artificial vanillin for flavouring 
purposes, could be obtained for about one-thirtieth of this cost. It 
it probable that this preference for Vanilla over artificial Vanillin is 
due partly to conservatism on the part of the consumers, and partly 
also to a somewhat widespread belief that vanillin does not wholly 
represent the flavour of vanilla, which it is alleged is partly due to 
minute quantities of other aromatic substances present in the plant. 
Some evidence in favour of this view is furnished by the statements 
made at various times by chemists who have examined particular 
varieties of Vanilla, and have isolated in addition to Vanillin small 
quantities of heliotropin, benzoic acid, etc. 1 hese substances aie 
however both cheap and readily obtainable, and il necessity atose 
it would be a very easy matter to mix them in a proper proportion 
with vanillin, in order to modify the flavour of the latter in the 
required direction. 
The foregoing statement of the present condition of vanillin 
manufacture indicates clearly the possibility in the near future of 
the replacement of vanilla as a flavouring agent by vanillin. 
It is difficult to obtain reliable statistics of the production ot 
vanilla since the cultivation of this product is so widely distributed 
in tropical countries, and the imports of it into the principal con- 
suming countries are comparatively of so little value that they are 
