When and by whom betel oil was first distilled is not known: it is highly probable that the preparation of the oil by Kemp1) in 1885 was not the first. A superficial examination of Siam betel oil in the laboratory of Schimmel & Co.2) in 1887 revealed the presence of a phenol in fraction 250 - 260°, which seemed to correspond with eugenol. Eykman,3) who in 1888 examined an oil distilled by himself in Java, found no eugenol, but a new phenol which he called chavicol. A second examination in the laboratory of Schimmel & Co. revealed the fact that Siam betel oil contains neither eugenol nor chavicol, but a third phenol, a previously unknown isomer of eugenol, which Bertram and Gilde-meister4) in 1889 termed betel phenol.