88 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 



the skin, and more (-specially, for tuberculosis and veterinary 

 cases. It is not to be wondered iliat such ;i universal panacea 

 speedily fell into disrepute, particularly since the seed from 

 which the oil was extracted were obtained from the wrong 

 tree. Thomas Christy, in his "New Commercial Plants," 

 published in 1878, figures and describes a1 some length 

 Gynocardia odorata as the source of chaulmugra oil, thus per- 

 petuating the original unfortunate blunder. By 1884 there 

 were other seed on the market supposed to furnish chaul- 

 mugra oil. and it is certain that Hydnocarpug Wif/htiana was 

 believed to possess similar properties to those of the true 

 chaulmugra oil tree. There was no demand, however, for 

 these seed nor for the oil they contained. 



About 1899 the real source of chaulmugra oil was dis- 

 covered, and three years later investigations were again un- 

 dertaken in London to determine, if possible, the value of 

 this oil in medicine. The active principle of chaulmugra 

 oil was isolated, and experiments carried on with lepers, 

 chiefly in Hawaii, seemed to indicate that in cases not too 

 far advanced a very high percentage of the patients might 

 be permanently cured. Similar favorable reports have been 

 received from other parts of the world. In Siam all lepers 

 who have been fortunate enough to receive treatment are 

 believed to have recovered absolutely, the only difficulty be- 

 ing that the supply of oil is inadequate to meet the large de- 

 mand and at present the number of cures is disproportion- 

 ately small. 



Hydnocarpus Kurzil. the tree which produces the true 

 chaulmugra oil, is an evergreen growing to a height of 

 seventy-live feet or more and bearing fruit as large as an 

 orange, within which arc imbedded the valuable seed. It occurs 

 abundantly along the banks of streams in the dense tropical 

 jungles of [Jpper Burma and Assam. In L919, The Mis- 

 souri Botanical Garden received, through the efforts of Mr. 

 Calder, Director of the Royal Botanic Garden, Sibpur, Cal- 

 cutta, two large shipments of seed of 7/. Kurzii, one of one 

 and three-fourths pounds from Moulmein, Burma, ami one 

 of three pounds from Upper Assam. These were carefully 

 packed in charcoal and sealed in lead containers so that they 

 arrived in excellent condition, and as a consequence there are 

 now growing at the Garden a number of seedlings of this 

 tree. There has likewise been received within the last year 

 seed of the same species, as well as of Hydnocarptts anthel 

 mmtica, collected by Mr. .1. P. Rock, Agricultural Ex 



