21 8  Some  Notes  on  Essential  Oils.  {Am-May^i903arm' 
SOME  FURTHER  NOTES  ON  ESSENTIAL  OILS. 
By  M.  I.  WlI/BKRT, 
Apothecary  at  the  German  Hospital,  Philadelphia. 
In  discussing  essential  oils  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  pharma- 
cist, we  should  not  forget  that  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  the  oils 
imported  into,  or  distilled  in,  this  country  is  used  by  confectioners, 
perfumers  or  manufacturers  of  toilet  and  laundry  soaps,  and  that 
but  a  comparatively  insignificant  proportion  of  the  total  product  is 
used  as  medicine,  or  in  the  making  of  medicinal  preparations. 
While  this  fact  should  and  does  have  considerable  bearing  on 
the  relation  that  these  products  bear  to  their  use  in  pharmacy  and 
their  recognition  in  the  Pharmacopoeia,  it  must  also  be  recognized 
as  the  factor  that  has  played  a  most  important  part  in  the  scientific 
as  well  as  commercial  development  of  the  essential  oils ;  for,  without 
the  tremendous  consumption  that  is  made  possible  by  the  require- 
ment of  the  industries  enumerated  above,  there  would  be  little  or 
no  incentive  for  the  scientific  investigations  that  have  been  made  to 
determine  the  physical  properties  and  chemical  composition  of  these 
different  products. 
It  will  readily  be  conceded  that  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia 
should  not  be  expected,  or  for  that  matter  not  be  allowed,  to  be  a 
standard  of  authority  as  to  what  the  confectioner,  perfumer  or  soap 
maker  should  or  should  not  use  in  his  particular  productions.  This 
is  the  more  evident  when  we  remember  that  while  in  some  cases 
the  pharmacopoeial  standard  may  fall  far  short  of  what  would  be 
required  by  a  manufacturer,  in  other  cases  the  same  requirements 
would  be  impracticable  on  account  of  the  excessive  cost  of  the  com- 
paratively high-grade  materials. 
From  the  medical  or  pharmaceutical  point  of  view,  the  determin- 
ing factors  for  recognition  in  the  Pharmacopoeia,  or  for  the  standard 
of  excellence  of  the  substances  recognized,  should  be  largely  deter- 
mined by  therapeutic  efficiency,  uniformity  in  composition  and  the 
stability  of  recognized  substances  under  ordinary  conditions.  These 
requirements  suggest  two  distinct  points  that  we  wish  to  call  atten- 
tion to  in  connection  with  the  following  notes  on  essential  oils. 
The  first  thought  suggested  is  that  the  United  States  Pharmaco- 
poeia should  not  include  descriptions  and  tests  for  an. essential  oil 
that  is  not  used  as  medicine,  or  as  an  addition  to  a  medicinal  prepa- 
ration included  in  the  Pharmacopoeia. 
