Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
October,  1909.  J 
New  Essential  Oils. 
497 
by  means  of  thionyl  chloride,  and  the  latter  converted  into  the  amide 
with  aqueous  ammonia.  The  amide  purified  from  petroleum  ether 
melted  not  quite  sharply  at  87  °  to  88°,  that  is  to  say,  6°  higher 
than  that  obtained  by  Tiemann  4  from  citronellic  acid  nitrile.  It 
is  our  intention,  for  purposes  of  comparison,  to  prepare  the  amide 
of  synthetic  citronellic  acid,  in  order  to  determine  by  this  means 
whether  the  above-mentioned  acid  really  represents  citronellic  acid 
(the  existence  of  which  in  essential  oils  has  not  been  detected  up  to 
the  present),  or  another  acid  of  the  same  constitution.  In  addition 
to  the  arguments  adduced  above,  its  identity  with  citronellic  acid 
seems  to  be  indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  oil  contains  both  citronellol 
and  citronellal. 
Only  traces  of  the  phenol  referred  to  above  were  at  our  dis- 
posal. These  were  just  sufficient  to  enable  us  to  identify  it  by  its 
benzoyl  combination.  This  body,  obtained  by  Schotten-Baumann's 
method,  when  purified  from  petroleum  ether,  had  a  m.  p.  of  1090 
to  no°,  but  up  to  the  present  we  have  been  unable  to  identify  it 
with  the  benzoate  of  any  known  phenol. 
From  the  Instituto  Medico  Nacional  in  Mexico  we  received  the 
two  following  distillates: 
Oil  of  Satureja  macrostema  (Benth.)  Briq.  (Calamintha 
macrostema  Benth. ) . — The  oil  of  this  shrub-like  plant,  which  belongs 
to  the  N.  O.  Labiate?  and  is  a  native  of  Mexico,  was  pale  yellow 
and  had  an  odor  resembling  that  of  mint;  di  „  0.9182,  aD  +  6°  51', 
nD2QO  1.46852,  acid  no.  15.6,  ester  no.  10.3,  ester  no.  after  acetyl- 
ation  37.9.  The  oil  is  soluble  in  any  proportion  of  90  per  cent, 
alcohol,  also  in  3  vols,  of  70  per  cent,  or  1.2  vol.  of  80  per  cent, 
alcohol,  but  opalescence  ensues  with  the  last  two  when  more  of  the 
solvent  is  added.   The  odor  points  to  the  presence  of  pulegone. 
Oil  from  the  Mexican  Marsh-cypress  (Tax odium  mexv- 
canum  Carr.,  T.  Montezumce  Decne.,  T.  mucronatum  Ten.). — This 
tree,  which  belongs  to  the  conifers  and  is  known  in  Mexico  as 
"  Sabino,"  grows  in  that  country  at  altitudes  of  from  5600  to  7000  ft. 
It  is  not  distributed  over  a  very  wide  area,  but  where  it  does  grow  it 
forms  large  forests.5    The  oil,  which  had  probably  been  distilled 
4Berl.  Berichte,  31  (1898),  2899. 
5  The  famous  "  Cypress  of  Montezuma  "  in  the  cemetery  of  Santa  Maria 
del  Tule  near  Oaxaca  belongs  to  the  same  variety.  It  is  said  to  be  130  ft. 
high,  the  trunk  to  have  a  circumference  of  98  ft.  De  Candolle  estimated  its 
age  at  6000  years,  Humboldt  at  4000. 
