474  The  Examination  of  Chaulmoogra  Oil.  { A o'ctS,"  1915™' 
of  Taraktogenos  Kurzii,  King  (Fam.  Bixinece),  a  native  of  Burmah. 
The  commercial  oil  is,  however,  also  made  from  another  variety  of 
seeds,  false  chalmoogra  seeds,  botanically  known  as  Gynocardia 
odorata  or,  more  correctly,  Chaulmoogra  odorata,  which  grows 
abundantly  in  Chittagong  and  Assam.  Various  other  seeds  give  oil 
similar  to  chaulmoogra  oil  in  physical  and  chemical  properties. 
Their  names  are  given  below. 
1.  Hydnocarpus  Wig htiana or  Hydrocarpus  Wightiana,  indigen- 
ous to  Southern  India. 
2.  Hydnocarpus  anthelmintic  a,  indigenous  to  Siam. 
3.  Oncoba  echinata,  obtainable  from  Sierra  Leone,  Africa. 
The  chaulmoogra  seeds  bought  from  various  shopkeepers  in  the 
local  market  were  examined  and  all  of  them  were  found  to  be 
Gynocardia  odorata. 
Samples  of  the  oil  examined  by  me  were  obtained  from  two 
sources,  one  from  Messrs.  B.  K.  Paul  &  Co.,  and  the  other  from 
Messrs.  Smith,  Stanistreet  &  Co.,  both  of  Calcutta. 
Messrs.  B.  K.  Paul  &  Co.  are  one  of  the  oldest  manufac- 
turers of  this  oil,  and  their  product  is  of  a  pale  brownish-yellow 
color,  of  the  consistency  of  butter,  and  sometimes  it  is  semi-liquid, 
being  a  mixture  of  liquid  and  solid  product,  the  white,  crystalline 
solid  matter  separating  from  the  reddish  liquid  portion  on  standing. 
This  oil  is  said  to  be  obtained  from  genuine  seeds  by  expression  by 
the  hot  process,  but  subsequent  examination  makes  it  doubtful  if  it 
is  actually  made  from  unmixed  seeds  of  the  true  chaulmoogra 
( Taraktogenos) .  As  I  could  not  get  the  seeds  actually  used  by  the 
firm,  no  further  observation  can  be  made  on  it. 
The  oil  supplied  by  Messrs.  Smith,  Stanistreet  &  Co.  is  manu- 
factured by  the  Indian  Forests  Economic  Products  Company,  Ltd., 
of  Chittagong.  Chaulmoogra  oil  manufactured  by  this  firm  is  guar- 
anteed by  their  technical  expert,  Mr.  E.  E.  Francis,  M.R.C.S.,  to  be 
"  pure  cold  drawn  oil  expressed  from  the  seeds  of  Taraktogenos 
Kurzii,"  they  having  exclusive  rights  for  the  collection  of  these 
seeds  from  the  government.  The  oil  is  of  a  pale  sherry  color,  and 
is  liquid  at  ordinary  temperatures  and  remains  so  even  at  15 0  C. 
All  European  observers  describe  genuine  chaulmoogra  oil  as 
a  soft  solid  of  varying  consistency  (melting-point  22-230  C).  In- 
deed, Dr.  Power  and  Mr.  M.  Barrowcliff,1  in  their  paper  on  the 
V.  C.  S.,  1905,  896. 
