Some  Notes  on  Essential  Oils. 
/ Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\       April,  1903. 
a  low  menthol  content  (52-5  per  cent.)  and  does  not  congeal  when 
placed  in  a  freezing  mixture. 
The  price  of  menthol  has,  of  course,  also  increased,  in  sympathy 
with  that  of  oil  of  peppermint,  and  the  combination  has  in  turn  had 
a  very  marked  influence  on  the  tendency  to  cheapen  or  adulterate 
both  products.  This,  of  course,  again  illustrates  the  oft-repeated 
truism  that  an  article  with  a  marked  upward  tendency  is  very  liable 
to  be  adulterated,  one  reason  being  the  repeated  attempts  of 
dealers  to  neutralize  probable  loss  by  the  addition  of  a  cheaper 
grade  of  material.  In  this  connection  a  statement  of  J.  A.  S.  Wood- 
row  {Druggists'  Circular,  1903,  page  63)  is  of  interest.  He  reports 
on  two  lots  of  oil  of  peppermint  which  he  had  examined  and  found 
adulterated  with  oil  of  sassafras  or  oil  of  camphor. 
The  more  popular,  or  rather  more  frequently  practised  method  of 
cheapening  oil  of  peppermint  is  to  rob  it  of  the  contained  free-men- 
thol. E.  J.  Parry,  in  a  recent  number  of  the  Chemist  and  Druggist, 
reports  examining  ten  samples  of  oil  of  peppermint.  The  specific 
gravity  of  the  ten  samples  varied  from  o-88o  to  0*904 ;  not  one  of 
them  dissolved  in  three  volumes  of  90  per  cent,  alcohol,  and  none 
separated  out  any  menthol  when  cooled  to  io°  C.  with  the  addition 
of  a  few  crystals  of  menthol. 
Oil  of  Rose. — -This  is  the  most  variable  of  all  the  essential  oils. 
The  statement  has  been  repeatedly  made  that  it  is  practically  impos- 
sible to  get  an  absolutely  pure  oil  of  rose  anywhere.  E.  J.  Parry 
(Drug.  Circ.,  1902,  page  102,  from  Chem.  and  Drug.)  considers  pure 
otto  of  rose  obtainable  even  at  the  present  time,  and  simply  a  mas- 
ter of  price.  According  to  Parry,  oil  of  rose  is  more  largely  adulter- 
ated by  middlemen  than  by  the  actual  producers. 
The  adulteration  of  this  article  has,  of  course,  become  what  might 
be  termed  a  fine  art,  some  of  the  adulterants  being  extremely  diffi- 
cult to  detect.  A  rather  novel  adulterant  is  reported  on  by  Schim- 
mel  &  Co.  It  consists  of  oil  of  rose-geranium  to  which  a  mixture 
of  salol  and  antipyrine  has  been  added,  with  a  view  of  bringing  the 
congealing  point  up  to  the  desired  degree.  It  is  said  that  this  com- 
bination has  the  property  of  bringing  the  congealing  point  of  the 
resulting  mixture  up  to  any  desired  height. 
When  suspected,  the  adulteration  is,  of  course,  readily  detected 
by  the  appropriate  chemical  tests. 
The  repeated  attempts  of  improving  on  the  primitive  methods  of 
