Current  Literature. 
289 
filtered.  To  the  hot  filtrate  barium  chloride  solution  was  added. 
Three  separate  experiments  on  each  of  the  Haarlem  oils  under 
examination  gave  immediate,  decided  precipitates,  which  were  in- 
soluble in  excess  of  HQ.  Two  blank  experiments,  carried  out  in 
exactly  the  same  manner,  except,  of  course,  for  the  omission  of  the 
Haarlem  oil,  yielded  no  precipitates,  thus  demonstrating  the  purity 
of  the  reagents.  The  presence  of  sulphur  is  further  evidenced  by 
a  fetid  odor,  more  or  less  disguised,  in  all  Haarlem  oils. 
6.  Summary.  The  above  data  indicated  that  A  consisted  of 
sulphurated  oil  and  oil  of  turpentine;  that  B  and  C  consisted  of 
sulphurated  oil,  oil  of  turpentine,  and  crude  oil  of  amber,  the  last 
named  being  present  in  greater  proportion  in  C  than  in  B. — From 
Report  of  Lehn  and  Fink's  Analytical  Department,  1910-1912. 
ARTIFICIAL  MENTHOL. 
The  extremely  low  prices  at  which  certain  parcels  of  menthol 
have  been  offered  in  Hamburg  at  first  suggested  adulteration;  the 
melting  point,  37°-38°  C.  and  36.5°-38° ;  also  the  optical  rotation, 
ad  —  42. io°  and  46.380  indicating  that  the  samples  were  "abnor- 
mal." Further  examination  failed,  however,  to  reveal  the  presence 
of  any  foreign  addition,  and  analysis  showed  that  the  content  of 
alcohols  of  the  formula  C10H,0O  was  100  per  cent.  It  is  considered, 
therefore,  that  the  menthol  in  question  contained  the  stereo-isomeric 
menthols  such  as  can  be  obtained  easily  by  the  reduction  of  men- 
thone  or  of  pulegone.  Except  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  1898, 
which  expressly  states  that  menthol  should  be  derived  by  cooling 
the  oil  of  Mentha  arvensis  and  of  Mentha  piperita  there  is  no 
statement  in  any  pharmacopoeia  which  will  preclude  chemically- 
prepared  menthol  from  use  in  medicine.  In  fact,  in  the  French 
Codex,  1908,  it  is  definitely  stated  that  menthol  is  "  also  produced 
by  reducing  with  hydrogen  the  corresponding  a-ketone  occurring 
in  Japanese  peppermint  oil."  (The  British  Pharmacopoeia  gives 
the  melting-point  of  menthol  as  420  C.  and  not  exceeding  430  C. 
The  French  Codex  requires  it  to  melt  at  43 0  C. — E.  Tedesko, 
Apoth.  Zeit.,  1913,  28,  312.)  T.  W.  England. 
JAPAN  PEPPERMINT. 
We  enlisted  the  services  of  our  good  friend,  Mr.  J.  Perez 
Henrique,  representing  the  firm  of  Muhlethaler  &  Co.,  who  was 
paying  a  visit  to  Japan,  to  obtain  for  us  a  specimen  of  the  pepper- 
