Am.  Jour,  Pharm.  \ 
October,  1396.  / 
Oil  of  Monarda  Fistulosa. 
539 
Resin. 
Ash. 
No.  i 
1049 
11-97 
1379 
4'95 
4-38 
4*30 
2 
3 
Considering  that  the  tubers  were  taken  up  before  they  were  fully 
grown,  and  before  they  were  of  the  size  usually  seen  in  commercial 
circles,  the  result  of  the  application  of  phosphatic  manure  was  most 
satisfactory,  not  only  increasing  the  weight  of  the  tubers,  but  also 
increasing  their  value  in  the  amount  of  active  principle. 
ON  THE  CHEMICAL  COMPOSITION  OF  THE  OIL  OF 
Introduction. — A  year  ago  a  specimen  of  oil  of  wild  bergamot  was 
examined  in  this  laboratory.  It  was  found  to  contain  about  50  per 
cent,  of  carvacrol.  From  the  non-phenol  constituents  there  were 
obtained  cymene  and  an  oxygenated  fraction  of  a  very  high  boiling 
point.  Furthermore,  there  was  isolated  a  crystalline  coloring  matter 
resembling  alizarin.  The  commercial  importance  of  the  discovery 
of  so  large  a  quantity  of  carvacrol  in  so  common  a  plant,  is  alluded 
to  in  one  of  the  closing  paragraphs.  A  question  of  physiological 
interest  is  also  alluded  to  in  the  following  words : 
"  If  the  oils  examined  by  previous  investigators  had  been  posi- 
tively derived  from  Monarda  punctata,  one  might  be  inclined  to 
suppose  that  the  two  species  punctata  and  fistulosa2  produced  two 
isomeric,  yet  chemically  distinct,  phenols,  viz.:  thymol  and  car- 
vacrol. Under  the  conditions  such  a  conclusion  would  be  unwar- 
ranted at  present — this  all  the  more  so  if  one  recalls  the  observa- 
tions made  in  the  laboratories  of  Schimmel  &  Co.,  that,  e.  g.>  oil  of 
thyme  sometimes  contains  thymol,  sometimes  carvacrol,  or  both. 
This  question  of  plant-physiological  interest  can,  therefore,  be 
answered  only  after  a  longer  and  more  careful  study  of  the  oils  of 
both  species  of  Monarda.  Material  for  this  purpose  is  already  being 
collected." 
1  Presented  at  the  Montreal  meeting  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Asso- 
ciatio  n 
2  The  plants  from  the  two  sources  were  identified  by  Mr.  Iy.  S.  Cheney, 
instructor  in  pharmaceutical  botany  at  the  University  of  Wisconsin. 
MONARDA  FISTULOSA,  L.1 
By  E.  J.  Melzner  and  Edward  Kremers. 
