44 The Philippine Journal of Science m? 



To determine the physiological activity of the oil, 2 grams 

 and 2.5 grams, respectively, were administered per os to each 

 of two guinea pigs. No ill effect was noted in either case. 



Owing to the limited quantities of the nuts available, no ex- 

 haustive study of the oil could be made. However, enough was 

 obtained to determine that palmitic and oleic acids and small 

 quantities of an optically active acid are present. The latter 

 may be either hydnocarpic or chaulmoogric or a mixture of the 

 two. It resembles chaulmoogra and the hydnocarpus oils by the 

 presence of an optically active oil. 



HYDNOCARPUS ALCALDE C. DE CANDOLLE 



A sample of the fruit of Hydnocarpus alcalas C. de Candolle 9 

 was submitted by the Bureau of Agriculture to the Bureau of 

 Science for identification and examination. It had been sent to 

 the Bureau of Agriculture by Mr. T. Alcala, of Daraga, Albay 

 Province, Luzon, under the local name dudu dudu. It was 

 large, somewhat resembling a small unhusked coconut, about 

 20 centimeters long and 15 centimeters in lateral dimensions. 

 Within the pericarp were numerous seeds, measuring 4 centi- 

 meters by 2.5 centimeters. 



Mr. Alcala writes: 



It is said that the oil extracted from the seeds is a good cure for wounds. 

 It is generally believed to be poisonous, and when I ate six or eight of the 

 boiled seeds I had a slight sickness; however, many children eat them raw 

 without the slightest ill effect. 



At the suggestion of Mr. E. D. Merrill, botanist, Bureau of 

 Science, that this fruit belongs to the Hydnocarpus family, an 

 examination was made for hydrocyanic acid. The presence of 

 this acid would indicate the existence of a cyanogenetic glucoside. 

 All such tests resulted negatively. However, the fresh fruit 

 or the unripe fruit might contain such bodies. Our examination 

 of Pangium edule has shown that a decrease or complete disap- 

 pearance of the glucoside results when the nuts age, unless the 

 hydrolyzing enzyme is destroyed, and that with the ripening of 

 the nut a decrease in the glucoside content probably occurs. Con- 

 sequently the inability to obtain positive tests in this one sample 

 of seeds for hydrocyanic acid is not to be considered as sufficient 

 proof to warrant the statement that no cyanogenetic glucoside 

 exists at any period in the growth of the fruit. 



'De Candolle, C, This Journal, Sec. C (1916), 11, 37. 



