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DUGONG OIL. 



BY THE EDITOR. 



There are many substances of the animal kingdom used in pharmacy of 

 considerable importance, and others possessed of valuable curative pro- 

 perties are from time to time being discovered. 



Dr T. Thompson has pointed out the medicinal value of various 

 animal oils besides cod-liver oil, such as sperm and seal oil, and the result 

 of his observations was a conviction that fish oils generally resembled one 

 another in their remedial properties, although differing in their apitude 

 for digestive assimilation in the human stomach. He tried neat's-foot oil, 

 an animal oil obtained from a soft, solid fat found between the parchment 

 and the leather skin of animals, also an oil obtained from a species of fish 

 abounding on the Malabar coast ; and these trials were frequently attended 

 with encouraging results. 



The practice of daily inunction is common in many warm countries, 

 and serves to soften the skin and keep the body in health. In tropical 

 regions, vegetable oils are chiefly used ; but the New Zealanders and some 

 others use shark oil. The Esquimaux and Greenlanders imbibe large quan- 

 tities of train, seal, and various fish oils ; whilst the natives about the large 

 rivers and coasts of Brazil use turtle oil, and fat obtained from the alligator 

 and crocodile. 



Those who are employed in the woollen trade, soap, candle and 

 other factories, where oils and fats are largely used, enjoy a comparative 

 immunity from scrofula and phthisis. Sailors believe a whaling voyage to 

 be a cure for consumption ; and probably the quantity of oil drunk and 

 taken into the skin may have its beneficial effect upon the system. 



Another animal oil having medicinal properties has of late years been 

 added to the list of commercial products: it is obtained from the Dugong of 

 Australia. The Dugongs and Manatees were formerly classed with the 

 Cetacea ; but, being herbivorous animals, Professor Owen well remarks that 

 they must either form a group apart, or be joined, as in the classification of 

 M. de Blainville, with the Pachyderms, with which they have the nearest 

 affinities. The name has been corrupted from the duyong of the Malays. 



There appear to be two recognised species of the dugong : 1. Halicore 

 Dugong (the Indian dugong — the Trichechus Dugong of Gmelin, Dugungus 

 Indicus of Hamilton); and, 2. H. Australis. H. Tabernaculi is, however, 

 considered by Ruppel a distinct species. 



The first species is met with about the shores of the Indian Ocean, 

 Ceylon, and the islands of the Eastern Archipelago. Round Ceylon they 

 are frequently seen in considerable numbers, especially along the northern 

 shore of the island among the inlets from the Bay of Calpentyn to 

 Adam's Bridge, where the water is still and shallow, and abounds with 

 algae and fuci : length from 7' to 8 feet. They are also caught about the 

 Straits settlements 8 or 9 feet long. Leguat, about 125 years ago, say6 they 



