Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan.,  1884. 
Boracie  Acid  not  Harmless. 
21 
by  squeezing  the  doughy  mass  in  a  cloth  and  is  poured  into  joints  of 
bamboos,  by  which  it  receives  the  cylindrical  form  in  which  it  is  met 
with  in  commerce.  Some  Dyak  tribes  press  the  fruit  by  means  of  two 
beams.  But  it  is  probable  that  by  neither  of  these  processes  is  all  the 
fat  obtained. 
The  trees  begin  to  yield  when  they  are  about  eight  or  ten  years  old 
and  the  crops  are  somewhat  irregular,  but  every  four  or  five  years  an 
extraordinarily  large  crop  may  be  counted  upon,  the  fruit  being  ripe 
in  December  and  January.  According  to  "  Spon's  Encyclopaedia" 
(p.  1413),  about  ten  species  of  Hopea,  yielding  oil  seeds  differing  much 
in  size,  are  recognized  by  the  natives  of  Borneo,  three  of  these  being 
common  in  Sarawak.  The  fat  is  also  prepared  in  Java  and  Sumatra. 
By  the  natives  the  tallow  is  used  for  culinary  and  lighting  purposes. 
Although  the  tallow  has  not  as  yet  been  turned  to  account  in  phar- 
macy in  this  country,  there  is  no  reason  why  its  fitness  for  medical 
purposes  should  not  be  experimented  upon,  the  fat  being  a  regular 
article  of  commerce.  As  far  back  as  1856,  651,586  kilos  were  im- 
ported into  Singapore,  and  now  several  thousands  of  piculs  go  yearly  to 
Singapore  and  are  exported  thence  to  England  for  use  as  a  lubricating 
agent.  For  this  purpose  it  has  proved  most  valuable,  especially  for 
steam  machinery,  far  surpassing  even  olive  oil.  In  Manilla  it  has 
been  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  candles  and  found  to  be  very 
valuable  for  this  purpose.  There  are  doubtless  many  other  purposes 
in  the  arts  to  which  the  fat  might  be  applied.  It  contains  glycerin 
and  about  95  per  cent,  of  saponifiable  matter  which  has  less  olein  in 
it  than  animal  fat.  The  tree  is  certainly  also  worthy  of  the  attention 
of  colonial  planters  since  it  yields  fat,  dye,  timber  and  probably  also 
resin,  and  the  demand  for  the  fat  alone,  when  it  is  better  known  and 
prepared  in  a  pure  state,  will  probably  far  exceed  the  native  supply. — 
Phar.  Jour,  cend  Trans.,  November,  1883,  p.  401. 
Boracie  Acid  not  Ha  rmless. — There  is  a  case  reported  in  Schmidt's 
Jahrbucher  following  the  use  of  an  injection  of  a  four  per  cent,  solu- 
tion for  chronic  diarrhoea,  and  the  Medical  Record  reports  a  death 
supervening  upon  its  external  use  in  an  ulcer.  The  cases  teach  us  that 
boracie  acid  is  not  so  harmless  as  is  usually  supposed,  and  warn  us  to 
be  cautious  in  its  use,  either  pure,  or  in  such  combinations  as  borax, 
boro-glyceride,  etc. — Louisville  Med.  News.,  November  24,  1883. 
