Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
November,  1915.  J 
Chaulmoogra  Oil. 
497 
Indian  Museum  in  Calcutta,  but  as  these  seeds  were  not  an  article 
of  commerce  in  India,  considerable  difficulty  was  experienced  in 
procuring  them.  Through  the  kind  interest  of  Dr.  Hooper,  however, 
a  sufficient  quantity  was  specially  collected  for  us  in  Sylhet,  Assam. 
The  genuineness  of  the  seeds  was  first  confirmed  by  Surgeon-Major 
Prain,  Director  of  the  Botanic  Survey  of  India,  and  subsequently  by 
Mr.  E.  M.  Holmes,  F.  L.  S.,  of  London.  The  expression  of  the 
oil  was  most  carefully  conducted  by  Messrs.  Stafford  Allen  &  Sons, 
of  London,,  and  it  was  this  absolutely  authentic  material  which  was 
employed  by  the  present  author  and  his  associates  for  the  chemical 
investigation.7  The  oil  so  obtained,  as  originally  described  by  us, 
was,  at  the  ordinary  temperatures,  a  pale  yellow  liquid,  having  an 
odor  resembling  that  of  linseed  oil.  It  retained  its  fluidity  after 
keeping  for  several  years,  and  even  on  exposure  to  temperatures 
below  15  °  C.  The  so-called  physical  constants  found  for  the  oil 
were  as  follows:  Specific  gravity  at  25 0  C,  0.925;  acid  value,  4.90; 
saponification  value,  197.0;  iodine  value,  152.8 
Mr.  Chattopadhyay  has  devoted  considerable  space  in  his  paper 
(loc.  ext.,  p.  482)  to  a  description  of  what  he  has  termed  "  Salts  of 
Gynocardic  Acid,"  the  name  "  gynocardic  acid  "  having  been  origin- 
ally given  by  Moss  8  to  a  product  obtained  from  chaulmoogra  oil, 
but  which  evidently  consisted  of  a  mixture  of  acids.  Petit 9  sub- 
sequently published  a  method  for  the  preparation  of  the  so-called 
"  gynocardic  acid  "  from  chaulmoogra  oil,  and  appears  to  have  com- 
prehended under  this  name  that  portion  of  the  total  fatty  acids  which 
is  soluble  in  70  per  cent,  alcohol  at  150  C.  and  has  a  melting-point 
of  290  C. 
Mr.  Chattopadhyay  states  to  have  prepared  the  above-men- 
tioned "  salts  of  gynocardic  acid,''  namely,  those  of  calcium,  zinc, 
and  magnesium,  "  by  neutralizing  the  oil  with  alcoholic  potash  and 
precipitating  the  neutralized  solution  with  solutions  of  calcium 
chloride,  zinc  chloride,  and  magnesium  chloride  "  respectively.  It 
is  difficult  to  understand  how  such  extremely  crude  products  could 
be  designated  by  names  which  would  indicate  them  to  represent 
chemical  entities,  and  a  description  of  them  certainly  cannot  possess 
any  scientific  or  practical  value.    LTnder  the  equally  illogical  title, 
7  Journ.  Chem.  Soc,  1905,  87,  pp.  349-357  and  896-900. 
8  Year-Book  of  Pharmacy,  1879,  pp.  523-533. 
9  Journ.  Pharm.  Chem.,  1892,  26,  p.  445. 
