Am.  Jour,  Pharm.  ) 
November,  1915.  J 
Chaulmoogra  Oil. 
495 
From  the  incompleteness  of  the  observations  recorded  by  Mr. 
Chattopadhyay,  there  can  be  little  doubt  but  that  he  has  himself 
contributed  very  considerably  to  the  unsatisfactory  condition  which 
he  believes  to  exist  respecting  the  exact  source  of  chaulmoogra  oil. 
If  any  serious  consideration  were  to  be  given  to  the  deductions  he 
has  made  respecting  the  chemical  constituents  of  the  oil,  no  greater 
confusion  of  a  subject  could  possibly  be  produced. 
With  regard  to  the  physical  characters  of  what  may  be  desig- 
nated genuine  chaulmoogra  oil,  as  obtained  from  the  seeds  of  Tarak- 
togenos  Kurzii,  King,  the  fact  may  again  be  recorded  that  the  oil  em- 
ployed by  the  present  author  and  his  associates  for  their  investigations 
was  obtained  directly  from  true,  freshly-collected  Taraktogenos 
seeds,  conforming  to  the  description  given  by  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Prain,4  and  their  authenticity  was  furthermore  established  by  Air. 
E.  M.  Holmes,  F.  L.  S.  of  London.  The  expression  of  the  oil  from 
these  seeds,  of  which  several  hundredweight  were  employed,  was 
most  carefully  conducted  by  Messrs.  Stafford  Allen  &  Sons,  of  Lon- 
don, by  the  use  of  strong  hydraulic  pressure.  These  facts  should 
certainly  suffice  to  eliminate  any  question  of  doubt  respecting  the 
genuineness  of  the  chaulmoogra  oil  described  and  employed  by  us. 
In  its  physical  characters  it  also  agreed  closely  with  such  of  the 
products  then  available  in  the  London  market  as  were  represented 
to  be  true  chaulmoogra  oil,  all  of  which  at  the  ordinary  temperature 
were  soft  solids.  It  is  therefore  believed  that  the  description  of 
chaulmoogra  oil,  as  given  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia  of  1914, 
which  is  certainly  authoritative,  is  also  perfectly  correct,  although 
the  so-called  physical  constants  are  naturally  there  given  within 
certain  limits,  while  the  figures  observed  for  the  particular  lot  of 
oil  expressed  for  us  were  recorded 5  as  follows :  Melting-point 
22-230  C. ;  specific  gravity  0.951  at  250  and  0.940  at  450  C.,[a]D  150 
-j-  52. o°  ;  acid  value  23.9;  saponification  value  213.0;  iodine  value 
103.2. 
The  British  Pharmacopoeia  of  1914  defines  chaulmoogra  oil  as 
"the  fatty  oil  expressed  from  the  seeds  of  Taraktogenos  Kurzii, 
King,"  and  assigns  to  it  the  following  characters  and  tests :  "  A 
brownish-yellow  oil  or  soft  fat.  Characteristic  odor;  taste  some- 
what acrid.    Melting-point,  about  22  to  300.    Specific  gravity  at 
4  Compare  Pharm.  Jonrn.,  London,  1900,  64,  p.  522,  and  1901,  66,  p.  596. 
5  Journ.  Chem.  Soc,  1904,  85,  p.  843. 
