21,1 Perkins: Drugs for the Treatment of Leprosy 7 
The committee has made experiments using Mercado mixture 
prepared from chaulmoogra oil refined at the Bureau of Science, 
and from a high-grade oil made by Shiongi & Co., Osaka, Japan, 
which is either pressed from carefully selected seeds or else 
refined. In both cases it was found that the irritation was 
negligible as compared to that produced by the mixture made 
from ordinary commercial chaulmoogra oil. The free fatty 
acid was found to be one of the very irritating constituents 
of the crude oil. The fact that free fatty acid is more easily 
digested than neutral oil probably explains the superiority of 
the crude oil for oral administration. 
Using the Mercado mixture as a standard for comparison, 
the committee has conducted experiments with seven newer 
preparations, all of which are designed for more-rapid absorp- 
tion than occurs with the Mercado mixture. These are: Chaul- 
moogra ethyl esters, Muir’s E. C. C. O., sodium gynocardate A, 
sodium gynocardate S, chaulmoogra emulsion, sodium morrhuate, 
and cod-liver ethyl esters. The composition and chemistry of 
each of these will be considered in turn. 
CHAULMOOGRA ETHYL ESTERS '* 
‘The mixed ethyl esters of the fatty acids of chaulmoogra oil 
came on the market several years ago as “antileprol” ° made 
by the Bayer Co. This was found by Mercado” to have no 
better effect than the oil when taken orally. Tests on two pa- 
tients were made intramuscularly without results, but in these 
cases only 2 per cent and 5 per cent solutions were used. 
The ethyl ester treatment has been used very successfully 
-by Dean and his collaborators at Honolulu,”! and the committee 
has obtained excellent results with it at San Lazaro Hospital. 
The ethyl esters seem to be more easily absorbed than the oil, 
perhaps because they form a more-mobile liquid, which is easily 
emulsified. They have even been used intravenously by Muir.* 
The method usually employed in making these ethyl esters 
seems to be to prepare the soap, then the fatty acids, and finally 
to esterify with the help of dry hydrochloric acid gas. The 
* With the assistance of Mr. Ernesto Paras. 
* Patents, D.R.P. 216,092, and B.P. 1984-1909, were granted for these 
ethyl esters, although Power had long before prepared them, and published 
aceounts of his work. 
*Op. cit. 43. 
* McDonald and Dean, U. S. Pub. Health Rept. 35 (1920) 1959; Holl- 
mann and Dean, Journ. Cutaneous Dis. 37: 367-373. 
“ Handbook on Leprosy. Orisa Mission Press, Cuttack, India (1921) 46. 
