474 
Star-Anise  Oil. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharrru 
t       Sept.,  1889. 
1  gm. ;  water,  1  litre.  Wash  again  and  place  for  two  hours  in  a 
mixture  of:  Solution  of  bi-sulphate  of  soda,  10  gm. ;  hydrochloric 
acid,  1  gm. ;  water,  1  litre.  The  sponges  (now  of  a  yellowish- white 
color)  should  be  again  washed  and  put  by  for  use  in  a  solution  com- 
posed as  follows  :  Phenic  acid,  1  gm. ;  alcohol,  5  gm. ;  water,  1  litre. 
If  the  odor  of  phenic  acid  is  objectionable,  the  sponges  may  be  pre- 
served in  the  following  solution  :  Thymol,  1  gm. ;  alcohol,  4  gm.  ; 
water,  1  litre. — Bull.  Soc.  de  Phar.  de  Bordeaux. 
STAK-ANISE  OIL. 
A  star-anise  tree,  when  at  its  full  strength  and  in  a  favorable  crop 
year,  bears  about  2J  cwt.  of  fruit,  which  yield  about  4  per  cent,  of 
essential  oil,  though  it  is  said  that  if  a  less  primitive  still  were  em- 
ployed than  that  used  by  the  Annamites  of  Indo-China,  the  percent- 
age might  be  sensibly  increased.  The  tree  yields  a  full  and  a  small 
crop  every  alternate  year.  The  Annamites  distinguish  three  varieties 
of  oil — white,  red-brown  and  yellow.  The  first  is  obtained  from  green 
or  badly-kept  fruit,  the  second  is  the  usual  variety,  and  the  yellow 
oil  is  the  best ;  but  there  is  very  little  of  it  to  be  had,  as  the  natives 
rarely  dry  the  fruit  in  the  sun,  that  being  a  slow  process  and  said  to 
decrease  the  outturn.    The  natives  never  use  star-anise  oil  themselves. 
Until  the  French  occupation  of  Indo-China  the  distilling  was 
done  exclusively  by  the  Chinese  merchants,  who  bought  up  the  seeds 
from  the  natives,  and  paid  a  tax  to  the  Annamite  Government  for  the 
use  of  the  stills,  but  since  the  French  conquest  the  natives  do  all  the 
distilling,  hiring  the  stills  from  the  Chinese.  In  1887  the  monopoly 
of  purchasing  star-anise  oil  from  the  natives  during  the  seasons  188T 
and  1888  was  let  by  contract  for  the  first  time  for  the  sum  of  26,050 
francs — a  little  more  than  1,000Z.  The  four  principal  distilling  centres 
are  Ha-Lung,  Lang-Son,  Ky-Lua  and  Dong-Dong — names  which 
have  become  familiar  of  late  as  the  scenes  of  several  battles  fought  by 
the  Annamites  against  the  French.  In  the  village  of  Ha-Lung  alone 
there  are  twelve  stills,  and  about  sixty  stills  altogether  in  the  district. 
The  contractor  "has  the  right  to  levy  a  tax  of  four  francs  on  every 
picul  of  seed  sold  to  anyone  else,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  is  now 
practically  the  only  wholesale  dealer  in  the  market.  In  1887  about 
fifty  tons  of  oil  were  sold  to  him,  for  which  he  paid  an  average  price 
of  about  7*20  francs  per  kilo.,  or,  say,  3s.  4d.  per  pound  for  the  oiL 
