Am/P°rnr;i903arm*}    Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  185 
the  natural  ones,  nevertheless  there  is  a  certain  satisfaction  in 
knowing  that  the  cultivation  of  perfume  plants  is  still  a  fruitful 
industry  and  one  which  is  receiving  the  closest  scientific  attention, 
as  set  forth  in  the  Scientific  and  Industtial  Bulletin  of  Roure-Bettrand 
Fils  of  Grasse.    (Series  1,  No.  6,  October,  1902.) 
Messrs.  Charabot  and  Hebert  are  conducting  a  series  of  "  Chemi- 
cal Investigations  on  the  Vegetation  of  Perfume-Yielding  Plants,'" 
and  in  this  number  they  consider  the  chemical  variations  in  a  plant 
subjected  to  the  influence  of  sodium  nitrate.  Under  the  head  of 
"  Contributions  to  the  Study  of  Essential  Oils,"  it  is  reported  that 
the  oil  of  mandarine  leaves  {Citrus  madurensis)  contains  about  50 
per  cent,  of  methyl  methylanthranilate,  which  substance  has  hith- 
erto been  found  in  small  proportions  in  only  a  few  essential  oils. 
In  this  same  paper  it  is  also  reported  that  Russian  otto  of  rose,  as 
compared  to  the  German  and  Oriental  products,  contains  a  greater 
proportion  of  rhodinol  than  geraniol,  whereas  the  reverse  is  true 
with  the  others,  a  difference  probably  due  to  climatic  conditions. 
A  useful  feature  of  this  number  of  the  Bulletin  is  the  review  of 
recent  publications  on  the  perfumes  and  essential  oils.  Here  atten- 
tion is  called  to  the  fact  that  Von  Baeyer  and  Villiger  (Ber.y  34, 
2679)  have  introduced  into  the  chemistry  of  the  terpenes  the  idea  of 
the  tetravalency  ot  oxygen,  which  the  recent  researches  of  Fosse 
tend  to  confirm.  It  appears  that  in  cineol  (eucalyptol)  C10H18O,  the 
oxygen  atom  behaves  as  a  tetravalent  element,  and  in  this  way 
combines,  by  addition,  not  only  with  phosphoric  and  arsenic  acids, 
but  also  with  hydroferrocyanic,  hydroferricyanic  and  hydrocobalti- 
cyanic  acids. 
In  a  summary  of  the  recent  papers  relating  to  the  oils  of  eucalyp- 
tus, it  is  pointed  out  that  R.  T.  Baker  and  H.  G.  Smith  (Proc.  Roy. 
Soc.  N.  S.  Wales,  35)  have  established  a  relation  between  the 
anatomical  characters  of  the  leaves  of  eucalyptus  and  the  chemical 
composition  of  the  oils  which  they  elaborate ;  and  it  is  thought  that 
these  observations,  if  continued,  will  be  fruitful  of  philosophic  gen- 
eralizations. F.  Yaple^ 
ASSAY  OF  CANTHARIDES. 
In  December,  1 901,  Puran  Sing  presented  to  the  Pharmaceutical 
Society  of  Japan  an  interesting  paper  dealing  with  the  chemical 
properties  of  cantharidin,  the  form  in  which  it  occurs  in  the  insect 
