168  Cardamom  and  Oil  of  Cardamom.     { ^ApST'iSif™' 
expressed  as  to  authentic  and  pure  oil  of  cardamom  being  available 
as  an  article  of  commerce  and  likewise  as  to  its  keeping. 
These  criticisms  were  not  in  accord  with  my  own  practical  experi- 
ence, as  for  nearly  twenty  years  I  had  been  using  this  oil  continu- 
ously as  a  flavoring  in  certain  special  formulas  and  had  found  it 
very  satisfactory,  and  during  all  this  time  I  had  experienced  no  diffi- 
culty in  obtaining  a  good  product  nor  had  I  any  trouble  in  keeping 
it  in  my  oil  closet.  The  change  noted  in  the  latter  respect  was  very 
slight  indeed  and  not  at  all  comparable  with  changes  in  such  com- 
monly used  oils  as  lemon  and  orange. 
The  history  of  distilled  oil  of  cardamom  may  be  traced  back  to 
Valerius'  Cordus,  who  first  distilled  it  somewhere  about  1540.  An 
oil  prepared  "  by  extraction  from  the  seed  "  as  suggested  by  the 
critic  would  be  far  from  satisfactory,  and  his  sample  made  as  de- 
scribed, "  by  taking  the  cardamom  seeds,  grinding  them  and  ex- 
tracting with  a  solvent  and  evaporating  the  solvent,"  was  prob- 
ably not  more  than  one-half  to  one-third  pure  essential  oil,  because 
the  fixed  oil  in  this  seed  is  more  abundant  than  the  volatile  and  the 
ordinary  solvents  would  extract  this  and  leave  it  in  the  residue  on 
evaporation. 
The  writer  has  always  understood  the  commercial  situation  to 
be  that  a  very  large  portion  of  the  cardamoms  harvested  are  not 
presentable  and  will  not  permit  of  bleaching  either  by  natural  or 
artificial  means.  Again  part  of  the  fruits  become  broken  or  dehisce 
from  over-ripeness.  Thus  there  is  always  available  a  relatively 
large  amount  of  "  decorticated  "  cardamom  seeds  freed  from  the 
almost  inert  pericarps  and  very  suitable  for  grinding  for  manufactur- 
ing purposes  and  for  distilling. 
However,  that  there  might  be  no  question  as  to  the  abundance 
of  a  supply  of  pure  oil  of  cardamom  in  commerce  and  that  its  keep- 
ing quality  as  well  as  purity  might  be  established  before  receiving 
official  recognition,  further  investigation  was  deemed  advisable.  The 
writer  addressed  a  circular  letter  to  a  number  of  the  large  dealers 
and  manufacturers  of  essential  oils,  propounding  queries,  answers  to 
which  would  elicit  the  information  desired.  Their  replies  were  uni- 
formly prompt  and  courteous,  and  they  willingly  placed  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  committee  data  and  information  concerning  the  product. 
I  acknowledge  my  obligation  and  appreciation  of  their  kindness  and 
am  also  indebted  to  Messrs.  Dodge  &  Olcott  Co.,  and  the  American 
Branch  of  Antoine  Chiris  for  gratuitous  samples.    The  object  of 
