36 
Aboriginal Names. — I know of none that can he applied, without any 
doubt, to this species. 
Leaves. —In the Historical Records of New South Wales, Yol. I, Part 2, 
will be found a letter, dated 18th November, 1788, to Sir Joseph Banks, in which 
occurs the words :— 
We have a large peppermint tree which is equal, if not superior, to our English peppermint. I 
have sent you a specimen of it. If there is any merit in applying these and many other simples to the 
benefit of the poor wretches here, I certainly claim it, being the first who discovered and recommended 
them. 
Under the name of E. piperita, an account of this tree is given in a Journal 
of a T^oyage to New South Walus, by John White, Esq., Surgeon-General to the 
Settlement, published in 1790. He (or rather Hr. J. E. Smith) says of it (p. 227):— 
The name of peppermint tree has been given to this plant by Mr. White on account of the very 
great resemblance between the essential oil drawn from its leaves and that obtained from the Peppermint 
(Mentha piperita ) which grows in England. This oil was found by Mr. White to be much more efficacious 
in removing all cholicky complaints than that of the English Peppermint, which he attributes to its being 
less pungent and more aromatic. 
Mr. White sent a quart or more of the essential oil from this, or other 
Eucalyptus, to England. This was the commencement of what is now a flourishing 
industry. 
Mr. White was Mr. Considen’s official superior. The claim of being the first 
to prepare and utilise Eucalyptus oil is very distinctly made by Mr. Considen, and 
there seems no reason to doubt the justice of it. Mr. White probably acted 
officially in reporting the matter, and gave Hr. Smith any information which was 
available to him. 
The oil has recently been prepared and investigated by Baker and Smith.* 
The leaves and twigs yielded on distillation 078 per cent, of oil. It has a light 
colour and a decided peppermint-like odour, which, however, becomes fainter even 
after several weeks. Specific gravity 0'909 at 17°; [«] D = — 2‘97°. It boils 
between 170° and 272°. In the lower boiling fractions, pliellandrene and cineol 
were found. Erom the fractions boiling at 266°-272° there separated a compound in 
well-formed crystals which was called eudesmol. Eudesmol boils at 270°-272°, and 
melts at 74°-75°. Eudesmol has been subjected to a more thorough study by 
Smith. It crystallises in white milky needles, melting at 79°-80°. Its analysis 
corresponds with the foimula C 10 H 16 O, hut contains neither an hydroxyl nor a 
ketone group. It yields a dinitro-compound melting at 90°, and a dibromide 
melting at 55°-56°. 
Wilkinsonf found for an oil distilled from E. piperita the specific gravity 
0913 and [a] D = -j- 1*6°. 
* Journ. Boy. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. xxxi, 195; xxxiii, 86. See also their “ Research on the Eucalypts ” ; also 
Bericht von Schimmel and Co., April, 1900, p. 24. • 
t Proc. Boy. Soc. Vic., 1893, p. 198. 
