— 66 — 



distillate of E. Globulus, he says, was only introduced commercially at 

 a later stage from Algeria and was then made official in addition to the 

 original oil, while the Australian oil, which was rich in phellandrene, 

 and which was placed upon the market at a still later period, was excluded 

 from medicinal use. In the meantime, however, Cuthbert Hall's 1 ) experiments 

 have shown that as regards antiseptic virtue, eucalyptol is inferior to all 

 other constituents of the eucalyptus oils, being excelled, for instance, by 

 phellandrene and piperitone. Inasmuch as the efficacy of eucalyptus oil 

 is ascribed to its antiseptic properties, those oils which consist mainly 

 of eucalyptol should, according to Brownscombe, be excluded from me- 

 dicinal use rather than the others, but in any case it would be a mistake 

 to admit only the former as official. 



In Australia, for the past thirty years, almost only such eucalyptus 

 oils are used for medicinal purposes as contain about 30°/o eucalyptol 

 and consist of phellandrene, piperitone, aromadendral, and pinene. As oils 

 of this kind have given good practical results there, their therapeutic 

 value is established. Brownscombe regards it as right that in the new 

 edition of the British Pharmacopoeia this fact should be taken into account, 

 and that eucalyptus oils which, in addition to a sufficient eucalyptol-content, 

 also contain phellandrene and piperitone, should be admitted. 



We wish to point out that up to the present it has by no means been 

 proved that the therapeutic value of eucalyptus oil is due to its anti- 

 septic action. As a matter of fact, nothing whatsoever is known on this 

 point. Among other uses, eucalyptus oil has proved its value as an ex- 

 pectorant, and this value it owes especially to its eucalyptol, which, 

 moreover, has also shown itself to be an anthelmintic. It is therefore 

 probable that, after all, the medicinal action of the oil may be due to 

 its eucalyptol-content, hence it would be well, in a new edition of the 

 British Pharmacopoeia, to take a further step forward by prescribing pure 

 eucalyptol in lieu of eucalyptus oil. This would also be advisable because 

 the purity of eucalyptol can be most accurately tested, while the innume- 

 rable varieties of eucalyptus oils on the market naturally render exa- 

 mination of the oil much more difficult. 



The first part of the second volume "A critical Revision of the Genus 

 Eucalyptus", edited by J. H. Maiden, a work to which we have already 

 repeatedly referred 2 ), contains a description of the following species of 

 Eucalyptus: 



Eucalyptus Bosistoana F. v. M. (Syn.: E. bicolor Woolls). Eucalyptus 

 bicolor A. Cunn. (Syn. : E. pendula Page ?, E. pendula A. Cunn., E. largiflorens 

 F. v. M., E. haemastoma Miq.). Eucalyptus hemiphloia F. v. M., Eucalyptus 



!) Comp. on this matter Report October 1904, 37. 



2 ) Comp. Report October 1903, 38; October 1904, 39; April 1905, 37; October 1905, 33; 

 April 1906, 35; October 1907, 53; April 1908, 54; April 1909, 52. 



