Notes  on  Patchouli. 
(  Am.  Jotir.  Pharm 
\      Jan.,  1881. 
is  something  beyond  belief  ("Garden/'  Nov.  24th,  1877),  and  in  the 
last  edition  of  his  work  on  perfumery  he  says  that  "were  the  otto 
cheaper  its  consumption  could  be  increased  tenfold/'  This  book  is 
dated  1879;  the  average  price,  first-hand,  during  that  year  was  3s.  per 
oz.  in  London  ;  it  is  now  only  Is.  Id.,  and  leaves  have  been  sold  at  from 
3Jc?.  to  9(i.  per  lb.,  according  to  the  quality. 
The  bulk  of  the  enormous  quantity  of  leaves  harvested  and  of  the  oil 
goes  direct  from  its  place  of  production  to  Mecca,  the  Arabs  believing 
in  its  health-giving  properties  and  in  its  power  of  warding  off 
fever  and  sickness.  During  the  last  five  years  China  and  Japan  have 
adopted  it  for  similar  reasons.  As  a  perfume  it  has  much  more  popu- 
larity amongst  Orientals  than  amongs  Europeans;  still,  if  the  Etiro- 
])ean  consumption  alone  increases  in  the  ratio  predicted  by  Dr.  Piesse, 
consumers  will  naturally  inquire  into  the  causes  which  influence  so 
large  a  market,  held  in  a  few  hands  and  based  on  the  supply  of  a 
plant  of  which  very  little  is  known  in  Europe. 
The  generally  accepted  name,  "  Pogostemon  patchouly,^^  originated  by 
Pelletier-Sautelet  ("Mem.  de  la  Soc.  Roy.  des  Sciences  d'Orleans,"  V. 
n.  6,  1845,  and  Benth.  in  De  Cand.  "Prodr.,"  xii.,  p.  ,153;  also 
-Hooker's  "Journ  of  Bot.  and  Kew  Mis.,"  i.,  pp.  22  and  328),  and 
the  minute  botanical  description  of  that  plant  given  by  him  in  vol. 
viii.  of  this  Journal,  may  apply  to  a  variety  of  the  true  plant  yielding 
a  somewhat  similar  perfume,  but  the  plant  as  it  grows  wild  in  Pro- 
vince Wellesly  does  not  flower;  neither  does  the  variety  which  is  cul- 
tivated at  Singapore.  Still  Bentham  was  of  opinion  that  Pelletier's 
plant  was  identical,  or  not  really  specifically  distinct  from  his  Poyoste- 
mon  mtermedius  ("  Wal.  Cat.,"  2327),  of  Silhet,  Penang  and  the  oppo- 
site shore  of  the  Malay  peninsula,  or  from  P.  parvifloims  of  Silhet, 
Assam  and  Saharunpur,  or  even  from  P.  Heyneanus  of  Ceylon,  Java, 
etc.,  which  Drury  describes  as  "probably  merely  a  variety  with  larger 
spikes  and  more  drooping  in  habit,"  and  says  that  it  is  found  wild  in 
the  Concans,  and  that  it  is  probably  Rheede's  synonym  "cottam," 
("Hort.  Mai.,"  x.,  t.  77). 
Apparently  there  are  several  varieties  of  this  plant.  It  is  found  in 
many  other  places  than  those  above  named;  in  Ceylon,  China,  Java, 
Mauritius,  etc.  Its  native  locality  may  not  have  so  wide  a  range,  but 
it  has  most  likely  been  introduced  for  cultivation  at  many  of  those 
places.  The  plant  does  not  grow  to  any  extent  on  the  island  of 
Penang,  but  a  plant  said  to  have  been  obtained  from  thence  was  intro- 
