N. O. GBAMINEJE 71
tries, which are, in most cases, obtained from practically the same grass
as that grown in Java. None of them, however, are commercial articles
except, to a very small extent, the Burmese oil.
Burmese oil has characters identical with those of the Java oil, except
that the geraniol is usually present in rather larger amount than the
citronellal. Practical tests with soap appear to show that this oil has
not got so high a perfume value as the Java oil.
Citronella oil distilled in French Guiana (probably from Cymbopogon
citratus) was obtained to the extent of 0*316 per cent. It has the fol-
lowing characters :•—^1
Specific gravity 0'8864
Optical rotation - 0° 2'
Esters 5
- 8 per cent.
Total alcohols as geraniol.....71
3 „
The chief portion of the " alcohols " appears to be citronellal.
Citronella oil from the Comoro Islands has been examined^2 and
found to have a specific gravity 0-892, optical rotation - 0° 52', and to
yield 80 per cent, to a solution of sodium bisulphite.
The oil distilled in German New Guinea does not differ from the
Java oil in any respect, and the same is true of that distilled in the
Malay peninsula. Jamaica oil has been found to have the following
characters:—
Specific gravity 0'895
Rotation - 4° 16'
Refractive index....... 14710
Total alcohols, etc. 864 per cent.
Seychelles oil of citronella, distilled from grass derived from Ceylon,
resembles the Ceylon oil in all its characters (Lenabatu oil).
The oil distilled from the wild parent grass (C. Nardus, var. Linnaei
and Confertiflorus) has been examined by Pickles.
3
These oils had the
following characters:—
Var. Linnaei. Var. Confertiflorus.
Specific gravity.. 0'894 to 0926 0'900 to 0'929
Rotation... + 4° 54' „ - 6° 32' + 12° 12' „ - 2° 11'
Total " geraniol".. 43-5 to 647 per cent. 39'1 to 64-2 per cent.
Formosan citronella oil has been examined by Furukawa,4 who found
it to have the extraordinary specific gravity 0960, and to contain 2215
per cent, of geraniol and 11 per cent, of citronellal. Its odour is poor.
It is not clear whether the grass used is true citronella grass or not.
LEMON-GBASS OIL.
The lemon-grass oil of commerce is almost entirely Bast Indian.
A certain amount was imported a few years ago from the West Indies,
but it was not a successful industry and such oil is not available to-day.
Some few years ago it was regarded as essential to a pure lemon-
grass oil that it should be soluble in 3 volumes of 70 per cent, alcohol.
The West Indian oil was, however, found to be insoluble in 70 per
cent, alcohol (although much of it appears to have been soluble when
freshly distilled, but to have become insoluble during the voyage to this
country). To-day most of the East Indian lemon-grass is not soluble
in 3 volumes of 70 per cent, alcohol. This fact is mentioned now, as(^1) Roure-Bertrand'x Report, April, 1910, 62. (^2) Ibid., October, 1909, 42.
(^3) Bull. Imp. Instit., 8 (1910), 144. *Jour. Chem. Ind. Tokyo (1918), 21, 515.