Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1889. 
Notes  on  Essential  Oils. 
311 
but  the  precipitate  produced  by  acid  is  easily  soluble  in  alcohol. 
Phlobaphen,  a  part  of  humic  and  ulmie  acids,  and  the  brown  acids  in- 
cluded under  the  name  hymatomelanic  acids  (which  are  formed  from 
the  members  of  the  first  two  groups  by  heating  with  caustic  alkalis) 
belong  to  the  third  group. 
NOTES  ON  ESSENTIAL  OILS  FROM  MESSRS.  SCHIM- 
MEL  AND  CO.'S  REPORT.1 
Angelica  Oil. — The  results  obtained  from  the  parcel  of  angelica  root  im- 
ported from  Japan,  to  which  reference  was  made  in  the  previous  report 
(see  before,  p.  326),  differ  essentially  from  those  experienced  with  the  Ger- 
man drug.  The  Japanese  roots  have  the  same  tufted  form  as  the  German, 
hut  are  lighter  and  nearly  white  and  are  provided  with  stronger  rootlets.  They 
are  referred  to  one  of  two  species,  Angelica  refracta,  Fr.  Schmidt  (Jap.  "  Sen- 
kiyu"),  or  A.  anomala,  Lall.  (Jap.  "  Biyakushi"),  both  of  which,  according  to 
Rein,  are  cultivated  in  the  open  fields  of  Japan.  This  Japan  angelica  root 
proved  to  be  comparatively  very  poor  in  essential  oil,  the  yield  being  only 
one-tenth  per  cent.,  the  oil  also  being  essentially  different  from  commercial 
angelica  oil.  Whilst  the  German  distillate  has  a  specific  gravity  of  0.853  at 
20°  C,  that  of  the  Japanese  is  0.912  at  the  same  temperature.  At  10°  it 
gives  a  separation  of  crystals,  and  at  0°  it  solidifies  to  a  paste.  The  crystal- 
line mass  obtained  by  cooling  and  draining  had  the  properties  of  a  fatty 
acid  melting  at  62°-63°  C.  The  oil  boils  between  170°  and  310°  C,  the  last 
portion  that  passes  over  having  a  beautiful  blue-green  color.  The  residue 
solidifies  upon  cooling  and  consists  principally  of  the  non-volatile  fatty  acid. 
The  odor  of  the  oil  is  unusually  intense  and  persistent,  more  acrid  than  that 
of  the  German  angelica  oil,  but  possessing  the  characteristic  suggestion  of 
musk.   The  cost  uf  this  oil  deprives  it  of  any  industrial  importance. 
Anise  Oil. — The  statement  made  on  "  high  authority"  in  the  paper  read  at 
a  recent  evening  meeting  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  by  Mr.  J.  C.  Um- 
ney,  to  the  effect  that  for  every  pound  of  aniseed  oil  from  Pimpinella  Anisum 
a  thousand  pounds  of  star-anise  oil  are  met  with,  and  the  subsequent  state- 
ment of  Mr.  John  Moss  that  he  would  put  the  proportion  as  one  to  ten  thou- 
sand, are  sharply  criticized  as  underestimating  the  importance  of  the  ani- 
seed oil  industry.  Messrs.  Schimmel  say  that  in  their  factory  alone  under 
ordinary  circumstances  7000  kilos  of  aniseed  are  worked  up  daily,  yielding 
200  kilos  of  aniseed  oil.  They  place  the  annual  production  of  oil  from  seeds 
of  Pimpinella  Anisum  at  42,000  kilos,  or  equal  to  about  1400  canisters  of 
star-anise  oil,  and  they  raise  the  question  whether  the  annual  production  of 
star-anise  oil  amounts  to  1400  canisters,  to  say  nothing  of  one  thousand 
or  ten  thousand  times  that  quantity.  Messrs.  Schimmel  make  this  correc- 
tion in  the  hope  that  in  future  such  questions  may  be  discussed  "  with  more 
i  From  the  April  Berichi  of  Messrs  Schimmel  and  Co.  of  Leipzig;  reprinted  from 
Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans.,  April  6  and  20. 
