184 
Patchouli  Oil  and  Leaves. 
Ahj.  Jour.  Pharm. 
April,  1888. 
power  of  the  oils.  On  this  point  you  will  find  wonderful  variety  in 
(the  records  of  the  observers.    I  may  quote  a  few  : — 
Dr.  J.  H.  Gladstone  —50°     (sp.  gr.  0-975) 
Pharmacographia,"  — 18'6°  (Schimmel's  oil) 
 +  675  (Venezuela  oil) 
Dr.  Charles  Symes  +  2-36  (English  oil,  sp.  gr .0-958) 
"   +  8-29°(foreign  oil,  sp.  gr.  0-986) 
I  am  indebted  to  the  latter  observer  for  a  polarimetric  examination 
of  the  two  specimens  under  notice.    Dr.  Symes  has  examined  them 
very  carefully  with  two  instruments  and  Avith  different  tubes,  so  that 
the  results  are  certainly  correct.    They  are  as  follow^s  : — 
Indian  Oil  —  9*30° 
Fiji  Oil  -25-50° 
A  sample  of  English  oil  which  he  examined  at  the  same  time  gave 
—15^ 
It  is  evident  from  the  foregoing  that  the  high  density  of  Indian-dis- 
tilled sandal  Avood  oil  is  a  natural  characteristic.  How  it  happens 
that  oil  distilled  from  Indian  wood  in  this  country  is  not  so  high  I 
will  not  attempt  to  explain ;  but  it  is  clear  that  our  pharmacopoeial 
standard,  0-960,  is  much  too  low,  and  it  would  be  advisable  to  change 
it  to  say  0*970— 0*990.  The  Fiji  oil  is  identical  as  far  as  these  ex- 
periments show  Avith  ordinary  oil  of  sandal  Avood. — Phar.  Jour,  and 
Trans.,  Feb.  11,  p.  667. 
PATCHOULI  OIL  AND  LEAVES. 
.  In  the  March  issue  of  the  Kew  Bulletin  a  few  pages  are  devoted  to 
information  of  a  botanical  and  commercial  character  regarding  Pogos- 
temon  Patchouli,  the  herb  from  which  the  patchouli  oil  of  commerce  is 
obtained,  and  about  Avhich,  although  patchouli  was  introduced  into 
this  country  nearly  forty-five  years  ago,  much  uncertainty  still  appears 
to  prevail.  The  information  collected  by  the  Kew  authorities  is  there- 
fore doubly  welcome,  in  so  far  as  it  serves  to  clear  up  certain  points 
at  issue  concerning  the  habitat  and  varieties  of  the  plant. 
The  supply  of  the  dried  herb  as  well  as  of  the  oil  of  patchouli  has 
lately  been  very  uncertain  and  insufficient,  probably  because  the 
steamers  plying  betAveen  Europe  and  the  Indian  ports,  from  which  the 
article  is  mostly  shipped  (viz.  Penang  and  Singapore),  refuse  to  ac- 
cept consignments  of  patchouli  on  account  of  the  danger  that  the 
