Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Dec,  1888. 
Margosa  Oil. 
629 
The  gam  is  also  found  in  considerable  quantities,  but  of  dark  color,  in 
the  coal  deposits,  showing  the  antiquity  of  the  Kauri  forests.  There 
were  4920  tons  of  gum  exported  from  Auckland  in  1886,  the  value  of 
which  was  £257,653,  being  at  the  rate  of  rather  less  than  £2  12s.  Od. 
per  cwt.  The  gum  was  dearer  then  than  now,  and  there  is  the  cost  of 
packing,  sorting,  warehousing,  carriage  from  the  gum  fields,  and  other 
expenses  to  be  added  to  the  first  cost.  The  Kauri  gum  industry  is 
confined  to  the  North  Island,  as  it  is  only  in  the  north  that  the  Kauri 
pine  grows ;  thus  the  unemployed  of  Auckland  are  not  so  badly  off  as 
those  in  the  south,  always  having  the  gum  fields  to  fall  back  upon  as 
a  last  resource ;  a  last  one  on  account  of  the  hardships  to  be  gone 
through,  especially  when  there  is  a  wife  and  family,  and  because  an 
inexperienced  digger  may  be  a  long  time  before  he  finds  gum  enough 
"to  find  him  with  food.  A  very  large  portion  of  the  Kauri  forest 
having  passsd  into  the  hands  of  a  syndicate,  it  is  very  probable  the 
gum  digging  will  be  regulated,  and  in  all  likelihood  the  price  of  the 
gum  will  advance.  Auckland,  ?^ew  Zealand. — Phar.  Jour,  and 
Trans.,  Oct.  20,  1886,  p.  306. 
MAEGOSA  OIL. 
By  C.  J.  H.  Warden, 
Chemical  Examiner  to  the  Bengal  Government. 
Margosa  oil  is  the  oil  extracted  from  the  almonds  of  the  Melia  Aza- 
dirachta,  natural  order  Meliacese,  a  tree  common  in  India,  and  known 
under  the  name  of  "  Nim.'^  The  bark,  leaves,  fruit,  and  oil  are  held 
in  high  esteem  by  native  and  many  European  practitioners  as  reme- 
dial agents  of  value,  a  tincture  and  a  decoction  of  the  bark  and  a  poul- 
tice of  the  fresh  leaves  being  officinal  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  India. 
Preparations  of  the  bark  are  considered  effectual  as  antiperiodics, 
chiefly  in  the  milder  forms  of  periodical  fever,  and  as  tonics  in  conval- 
escence after  febrile  and  inflammatory  affections.^  The  poultice  of 
"  nim"  leaves  is  a  common  domestic  remedy  with  natives,  and  is  used 
as  a  stimulant  application  to  indolent  and  ill-conditioned  ulcers.  The 
oil  is  used  as  an  external  application  in  rheumatism  and  as  an  anthel- 
mintic, and  is  reported  by  Dr.  A.  Hunter  to  be  an  insecticide.^ 
^  Appendix  t  o  Pharjnaoopoeia  of  India. 
^  Ibid. 
