Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi
1. A convenient trap suitable for semi-micro scale determination of essential oil in plant material is described and an account is given of the most efficient method of using it.
2. Two independent methods for arriving at the correction factors for the trap due to hold up of minute quantities of oil on the condenser surface are described.
3. Using the trap, the minimum quantity of plant material required for a satisfactory assay of essential oil content is determined.
4. A comparative study of the use of different distilling media is made and it is shown that 10 per cent sugar solution is the best of them all in lessening the time of distillation and giving the highest obtainable oil yield.
