416 
Distribution  of  Safrol. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I     August,  1887. 
in  all  those  essential  oils  of  the  just-named  plants  the  fact  has  not  yet 
been  proved. 
This,  however,  has  been  most  surprisingly  done  by  the  well-known 
house  of  Schimniel  &  Co.,  of  Leipzig,  with  regard  to  the  oil  of  the 
camphor  tree  Cinnamomum  Campliora.  Since  1885  the  said  house  is 
manufacturing  safrol  from  camphor  oil  to  a  very  large  extent.  No 
doubt  there  is  now  much  more  safrol  being  made  in  the  state  of 
absolute  purity  at  Leipzig  than  they  are  able  to  distil  crude  oil  of 
sassafras  in  the  United  States. 
Cinnamomum  Parthenoxylon,  Meissner,  and  C.  glanduliferum, 
Meissner,  the  former  tree  belonging  to  the  forests  of  Penang,  Sumatra 
and  Java  (Kayu-gadis  of  the  Malays),  perhaps  also  in  Tennasserim  ; 
the  second  in  Nepal,  Sikkim,  Bhootan  and  Khasia  ("  Sassafras  of 
Nepal'7),  are  also  known  for  their  odor  resembling  that  of  true 
sassafras.1    They  would  deserve  a  chemical  investigation. 
1  am  struck,  lastly,  with  the  very  strong  odor  of  the  same  kind 
displayed  by  the  bark  of  an  Australian  tree,  which  has  been  described 
by  Bentham  (assisted  by  Ferdinand  Miiller)  in  the  '  Flora  Austraii- 
ensis/  vol.  v.  (1870),  p.  299,  under  the  name  of  Nesodaphne  obtusi- 
folia.  It  is  a  large  and  handsome  tree,  growing  in  Queensland, 
Rockingham  Bay,  Fitzroy  River,  Rockhampton,  Archer's  Creek 
(according  to  Leichhardt),  also  in  New  South  Wales,  Clarence  River. 
Hooker  and  Bentham,  '  Genera  Plantarum/  iii.  (1880),  p.  152, 
ultimately  unite  the  genus  Nesodaphne  to  Beilschmiedia ; 2  the  tree 
under  notice  is,  therefore,  to  be  called  Beilschmiedia  obtusifolia,  Benth. 
and  Hook. 
Dr.  Joseph  Bancroft,  in  his  'Contributions  to  Pharmacy  from 
Queensland'  (Colonial  and  Indian  Exhibition  of  1886,  London),  p. 
11,  states  that  the  tree  grows  in  the  rich  scrubs  to  the  north  of  Bris- 
bane. Its  grey,  rough  bark,  reddish-brown  internally,  has  a  strong 
aromatic  odor  and  pleasant  astrigent  taste,  and  is  frequently  used  by 
bushmen  to  improve  the  flavor  of  their  tea.  The  bark,  according  to 
Mr.  Staiger,  affords  about  2  per  cent,  of  volatile  oil  heavier  than 
water,3  and  9  per  cent,  of  tannin. 
T  Waring  in  '  Pharmacopoeia  of  India.'  London.  1868,  196. 
2  A  genus  of  the  order  Lauracese-Perseeae,  devoted  by  Nees  to  the  Pharma- 
cist Karl  Traugott  Beilschmied  (1793-1848),  of  Ohlau,  Silesia.  See  Archiv  der 
Pharmacie,  cviii.  (1849),  p.  126. 
3  Specific  gravity  of  safrol==  1-114  at  0°  (32°  F.) 
