R+ NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION of FUEMISTRY TEACHERS ofthe
Essential Oils as Strategic Materials' J. B. MAGNUS Magnus, Mabee & Reynard, Znc., New York City is obtained by the process known as "expression." Typical examples of oils which are prodused by "exis derived from a plant, root, leaf, herb, or, we may say, pression" are: oil orange, oil lemon, oil bergamot, and from anything that grows in the vegetable kingdom. oil limes expressed. The old method of making exEssential oils are obtained from all parts of the pressed oils was to rotate the citrus fruit on a piece of globe, for example: oil bergamot from Italy; oil worm- metal with a number of large points. These sharp seed, ~ e ~ p e r m i nwormwood, t, spearmint, lemon, and points would pierce the oil cells and allow the oil to orange, from the United States; oil lavender from run down into the handle. When the handle was France; oil citronella from Ceylon; oil citronella Java filled the oil was placed in another container and the from the Dutch East Indies; oil eucalyptus and its process continued. Methods of this kind. are no longer used. In Calivarious species from Australia; essential oil derivatives of camphor from Formosa; oil rosemary and thyme fornia the fruit is washed by mechanical means, then from Spain; oil cassia and anise from Hong Kong; ground whole, and finally run through a centrifugal oil vetivert from the Dutch East Indies; oil palma rosa separator. One spigot delivers the oil, another the from Turkey. The continent of Africa donates many juice, and the solid material remains behind. The beginning of the essential oil industry dates back essential oils including geranium, origanum, and others. Oil cloves although distilled mostly in this country to very early times, indeed. A few essential oils are is derived, as the name would imply, from clove spice mentioned in an indefinite manner in the Bible and in which originates in the islands off the southeast coast early literature. We only have to recall the cedar of of Africa, namely, Zanzibar, Madagascar, and the Re- Lebanon and myrrh and the oils made from them. Columbus set sail in a westerly direction to find a union Island: From the foregoing you can realize that. even in short cut to the land of spices. The spices which he peacetimes the importation and shipping arrangements sought contained essential oils which have been and are for essential oils were no simple matter but a complex used in all types of food products. It is said that the Monks of Europe were the first organizational practice in itself. With very few exceptions essential oils are distilled to learn that spices, herbs, and other plants contained or produced a t the source of growth. Since the yield essential oils. They also learned how to remove of essential oils from some substances is only half of one them from the original material by means of steam per cent, i t can readily be understood how this helps distillation. Not many years have elapsed since oils lemon and to save shipping space. This even applies to plants grown in the United States. For example, peppermint sweet orange were produced only in Italy. In the and spearmint are harvested in Indiana, Ohio, Michi- past two decades the United States Government and gan, and some of the West Coast states. The material the essential oil industry have encouraged the growth is distilled near the place of growth and the crude oil is of the production of these items in California and shipped to the processors. There i t is sometimes re- Florida. This industry has now grown to such an distilled, filtered to remove solid impurities, and dried extent that it is able to supply the world with these oils. Peru balsam which, contrary to its name, originates to remove the water which is introduced during the in the Central American Republic of El Salvador, is a process of steam distillation. In some cases i t has been found that the distilled oil resinous oil high in medicinal virtue, which has been does not have as good a lasting quality as the oil which used for years and is still used by medical authorities for application to old and slow-healingwounds. ' Address presented at the Fifth Summer Conference of the Oil cedarwood American for clearing and for microN.E.A.C.T..Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts,August scopic use is a U. S. A. product. Tremendous qnanti28, 1943. 2156 oil may be defined as an oil which ANhasESSENTIAL an odor and a taste, is volatile in steam, and
ties are used during wartime by the Army and Navy Medical Supply Depot for the vast amount of microscopic work that is necessary in the Armed Services. Balsam fir Canada is a product of Canada. It represents the exudation of a particular fir tree. It contains about 20 per cent of essential oil and approximately 80 per cent of a quick-drying resin. It becomes very hard upon exposure to air and has a refractive index very near to that of glass. For this reason balsam fir Canada resin in xylol, balsam fir Canada resin, and balsam fir Canada itself are used in tremendous quantities in the manufacture of optical instruments and equipment. In this war, candy for the soldiers, sailors, and other armed forces is indeed a very important item. Essential oils are used for flavoring these candies. Usually, they are of the hard candy type. Candy flavored with oil sweet orange, lemon, or lime requires the presence of a small amount of citric or tartaric acid to bring out its pleasant flavor characteristics. Citric and tartaric acids are not available in the usual quanitities, so manufacturers have resorted to a root beer flavor and others which do not require the presence of these acids. Root beer flavor is made up of a mixture of various essential oils, principally oil sassafras natural and oil sweet birch. Due to the shortage of dry spices, practically all manufacturers of food products have now resorted to the use of spice essential oils such as: oil cloves, pimento, cassia, cinnamon, and nutmegs. It has been found that these spice essential oils can be incorporated in dehydrated foods and in canned products in a more satisfactory manner than was possible with the dry spices. The pickle industry now uses essential oils for flavoring, such as oil dill weed, oil dill seed, and the various spice essential oils almost to the exclusion of dried spices. Because this war is of a global nature with fighting going on in all types of climates and under widely divergent conditions, oil citronella Ceylon, oil citronella replacement number 21, oil pennyroyal American, and some of the other essential oils have been supplied to the armed forces for use as insect repellents. Oil wormseed, for example, was shipped by air to Brazil for treatment of hooldorm. Now that planes make rapid trips from different countries to our country, it has been found necessary to spray the planes inside and out to kill insects that may have been brought from another land. Practically all of the insecticides that are used for this purpose contain small amounts of essential oil mixtures sometimes called perfume oils, to make the odor of the spray more agreeable to human beings. Balsam tolu, a product of South America, is collected by natives in the deep interior of that continent. Uniquely enough, the balsam is shipped to the United States in five-gallon tins which originally contained gasoline and kerosene. Balsam tolu is used by the armed forces for the manufacture of a cough syrup
and for certain other pharmaceutical preparations. Oil turpentine U. S. P. gum spirits, produced from the pine trees of the South, plays an important part for the armed forces. This material is used to make up liniments suitable for humans as well as horses and accompanies the armed forces wherever they go. Fats are scarce and it has been necessary to make soap from the types of fats and oils that would not ordinarily be used for this purpose. Essential oils and essential oil mixtures are used to cover the odor of these low-grade fats and thus make the soap more acceptable to the consumer's use. Many essential oils are not available any longer and will not be brought into this country until after the war. Successful efforts are being made to grow some of these products in the United States, South America, and Central America. The outstanding example of this is oil dill weed. Not so many years ago practically all of this material came from the regions around the Mediterranean Sea. Today all of i t is produced in the United States. Essential oils are used for flavoring tooth pastes, shaving lotions, talcum powders, hair tonics, presaiptions, fly sprays, insecticides, adhesive tapes, ointments, varnishes, paints, coated gum paper, chewing gum, and embalming fluids. Manufacturers of embalming fluids are always trying to make a more acceptable and suitable odor for their product.. In making a suitable essential oil odor for flea powder, the question arises as to whether the dog or the flea has to be pleased. CORRECTION
On p. 154 of the March issue of THISJOURNAL the last sentence in "Modern heat treating practices," the article by Charles A. Pethybridge, should read, "For case depth of 0.040 inch and less. etc." and not "0.40 inch."
NOTES Mr. Elbert C. Weaver, Andover, Massachusetts, attended (as an official representative of the N.E.A. C.T.) the informal meeting of the National Commission of Science Teaching held a t 315 Riverside Drive, New York, on March 19, 1944. The following organizations have named official representatives to the Commission: N. Y. C. Federation of Science Clubs, National Association for Research in Science Teaching, American Nature Study Society, Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society, American Council of Science Teachers, North Central Association of Science and Mathematics Teachers, American Science Teachers Association, Catholic Conference of Science Teachers, Middle States Association of Science Teachers, and the American Association of Physics Teachers. Professor Philip G. Johnson, Cornell University, is acting Chairman of the Commission. The purposes of the Commission have been delineated as follows: 1, to make the influence of science organizations a potent force
