Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
June,  1904.  J 
Progress  in  Pharmacy. 
293 
table  chemists.  The  best  that  has  been  done  to  the  present  time 
is  not  more  than  one-tenth  the  amount  claimed  by  the  original 
projectors.    (Phar.  Jour.,  1904,  page  466.) 
The  Production  of  Oil  of  Rose  in  Bulgaria. — An  interesting  article 
on  the  rose-oil  industry  in  Bulgaria  has  recently  been  published  in 
the  Pharmaceutische  Post,  Vienna  (1904,  page  77). 
The  oil  of  rose  of  the  ancients,  referred  to  by  Dioscorides  in  his 
Materia  Medica,  was  produced  by  macerating  rose  leaves  in  olive 
oil.  In  this  shape  the  perfumers  used  it  for  many  centuries.  The 
distillation  of  rose  leaves  was  probably  first  introduced  about  the 
eighth  century,  and  it  was  not  until  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury that  the  minute  oil  globules  that  occasionally  appeared  on 
the  surface  of  rose  water  were  collected  and  used. 
In  Bulgaria  the  centre  of  the  rose  industry  is  found  in  Kazanlik, 
Nova-Zagora  and  Tchirpan.  This  region  is  about  400  meters  above 
the  sea  level,  and  has  a  range  of  temperature  of  55  to  60  degrees 
centigrade.  By  far  the  greater  number  of  Bulgarian  distillers  use 
Rosa  Damascena  Miller,  beginning  to  gather  the  flowers  about  the 
middle  of  May  and  continuing  for  about  one  month. 
It  requires  3,000  kilograms  of  rose  petals  to  produce  one  kilo  of 
the  oil.  The  crop  in  1903,  the  largest  for  thirty  years,  was  6,260 
kilograms,  in  place  of  3,900  kilograms  in  1902,  and  3,200  kilograms 
in  1901. 
Formation  of  Terpene  compounds  in  chlorophyl  containing  organs. 
— E.  Charabot  and  A.  Hebert  have  found  that  the  systematic  and 
complete  removal  ot  the  inflorescences  from  growing  peppermint 
plants  brings  about  a  marked  increase  of  the  stem  and  green  parts, 
and  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  percentage  yield  and  absolute 
weight  of  oil  obtained  on  distillation. 
Light  has  a  marked  influence  on  the  secretion  of  essential  oil, 
more  being  formed  in  those  parts  freely  exposed  to  its  influences 
than  in  those  which  are  shaded.  (Phar.  your.,  1 904,  page  466, 
from  Compt.  Rend.) 
Oil  of  Cassia. — Schimmel  &  Co.,  in  their  Bericht  for  April,  1904, 
state  that  they  have  on  several  occasions  recently  observed  that 
samples  of  oil  of  cassia  sent  them  for  examination  had  been  adul- 
terated with  colophony  (rosin). 
The  adulterated  oils  leave  a  greater  residue  on  distillation,  and 
also  give  a  decided  precipitate  when  treated  with  a  saturated  alco- 
holic solution  of  acetate  of  lead. 
