96 
Reviews. 
f Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I    February,  1900. 
field  has  been  widened  and  the  work  made  more  useful  by  numerous  additions, 
and,  in  some  instances,  by  the  substitution  of  schemes  which  have  been  found 
to  be  shorter  and  to  give  better  results  when  used  by  the  beginner  in  chemistry. 
Thus,  the  scheme  for  acids  has  been  changed,  a  number  of  radicals  being  in- 
cluded which  were  not  mentioned  in  the  last  edition,  and  an  endeavor  is  made 
to  make  this  more  practical  for  mixtures  containing  the  interfering  acid  radi- 
cals. The  sections  are  numbered  consecutively  throughout  the  book,  but  the 
index  references  are  to  the  pages,  and  seem  to  be  quite  complete.  The  book  is 
of  convenient  form  and  size  for  ready  reference.  S.  P.  S. 
Semi-Annuai,  Report  of  Schimmei,  &  Co.  (Fritzsche  Brothers).  Leipzig 
and  New  York.    October,  1899. 
These  semi-annual  reports,  containing  as  they  do  so  much  information  on 
the  essential  oils,  may  be  said  to  have  been  for  years  the  harbingers  of  enlighten, 
ment  and  instruction  on  the  special  properties  characterizing  pure  essential  oils, 
and  distinguishing  them  from  the  sophisticated  products.  It  will  be  welcome 
news  to  those  in  the  United  States  who  do  not  have  a  working  knowledge  of 
German,  that  the  masterly  treatise  on  "Essential  Oils,"  by  Gildemeister  & 
Hoffmann  (already  reviewed  at  length  in  this  JournatJ,  1899,  p.  439),  will  be 
translated  into  English.  We  are  informed  that  both  French  and  English  trans- 
lations of  this  work  will  be  ready  by  the  1st  of  May,  1900. 
A  most  excellent  resume,  as  usual,  is  given  of  the  progress  relating  to  the 
scientific  as  well  as  commercial  aspect  of  the  essential  oils  during  the  past  six 
months.  Some  of  these  we  will  call  attention  to  in  later  issues  of  this  Journal. 
"The  property  of  aqueous  solutions  of  sodium  salicylate,  of  giving  a  clear 
solution  with  the  oxygenous  constituents  of  essential  oils,  has  been  carefully 
studied  by  M.  Duyk.1  His  experiments  show  that  the  maximum  power  of 
solution  is  possessed  by  a  solution  of  sodium  salicylate  in  an  equal  part  of 
water,  a  colorless  syrupy  liquid  of  1*240  specific  gravity.  Duyk  determined  the 
solubility  of  a  number  of  pure  alcohols,  ketones,  aldehydes  and  phenols  by 
dissolving  1  c.c.  of  the  material  in  4  c.c.  of  the  salicylate  solution  above  referred 
to,  and  adding  water  by  drops,  under  constant  shaking,  until  a  permanent 
cloudiness  ensued.    He  thus  obtained  the  following  results  : 
Eugenol  solution  required,  for  separation  3*5  c.c.  water. 
Geraniol  "  "  "   2*5  "  " 
Benzaldehyde    2*5  "  " 
Carvone  "  "  "   2-o  "  " 
Citral  "  *S*  M   t'T  ™  "  Jt> 
Cineol  "  "  "  .......  i;5  "  " 
Cinnamic  aldehyde  "   1/5  "  " 
Citronellal  "  "  "  .  0-5  "  " 
"  The  hydrocarbons  of  the  terpene  series  are  insoluble,  or  nearly  so,  and  can 
therefore  be  mostly  separated  from  the  oxygenous  bodies.  Duyk  distinguishes 
the  latter  into  two  classes,  according  to  their  solubility. 
(r)  Easily  soluble  : 
(a)  Alcohols  :  Geraniol,  linalool,  citronellol,  borneol,  menthol. 
1  Bull,  de  I' Acad.  Royale  de  Medecine  de  Belgique,  1899,  503. — Ann.  de  Pharm.,  5  (1899),  348. 
