OILS FROM PLANTS

Hokitika Guardian, 25 June 1928, Page 3

OILS FROM PLANTS

TI-lEIR VALUE AND USES

The value of essential oils both, commercially arid medicinally, was stressed by Mr AY. E. Short, Al.'Sc., in the course of an interesting a dress on the subject of “The Production of Perfumes and Medicinal Substances from Essential Oils,” delivered to the Auckland Institute, at the University College recently. Essential oils, explained the speaker contrasted greatly wth oils derived from animal matter, which did not possess the same pleasant odour. They occurred in leaves, flowers, fruits, root hark and peel, and the quantity of thcsubstance extracted varied greatly from plant to plant. Little was known of the functions of the oils, he said. It might be that in some cases the odours of flowers attracted certain insects to aid fertilisation and in others the oils were secreted to protect the plant against insect attack. One of the most important processes in the production of perfumes and medicines was the expulsion of the oils from leaves, either by currents of steam or by their absorption in layers of fat. Giving an instance of the commercial value of the oils, Air Short said that the average value of eucalyptus exported from Australia was £42.009 a year, while the individual prices of them varied up to £3 an ounce for otto of roses. The average user of scents was not aware that her perfume contained only 2 per cent of oil and the remainder of it consisted of’alcohol. The oils also provided flavouring essences, disinfectants and medicinal germicides. In the latter category came chnnlmoogra. an ml with which striking results have been accomplished in the treatment of leprosy. ______