44  Chaulmoogr a  Oil  Derivatives.        {A January Pi92im' 
acids  obtained  by  the  decomposition  of  the  glycerides  are  somewhat 
more  readily  separated. 
Sir  Leonard  Rogers,  in  his  experiments  using  the  intravenous 
injections  of  the  sodium  salts  of  the  acids  derived  from  chaulmoogra 
oil,  made  use  of  fractions,  separated  by  Ghosh.  The  data  presented 
by  Ghosh  showed  clearly  that  he  was  dealing  with  mixtures  of  fatty 
acids,  and  probably  very  complicated  mixtures.  The  separation 
of  the  constituent  fatty  acids  from  the  mixed  product  derived  from 
the  saponification  of  chaulmoogra  oil  by  means  of  fractional  crystal- 
lization is  a  tedious  and  complicated  task,  and  Ghosh  did  not  meet 
with  much  success. 
It  is  quite  clear  from  the  results  heretofore  published  that  al- 
though there  is  a  therapeutic  agent  (or  agents)  in  chaulmoogra  oil 
of  marked  value  in  leprosy,  none  of  the  attempts  to  isolate  or  identify 
this  agent  has  led  to  conclusive  results. 
A  recent  publication  of  Sir  Leonard  Rogers  describes  the  use  of 
"gynocardate  of  soda"  and  "morrhuate  of  soda."  His  term 
"morrhuate  of  soda"  refers  to  the  sodium  soaps  of  the  fatty  acids 
of  cod  liver  oil,  and  he  reports  excellent  results  from  the  intravenous 
and  hypodermic  injections  of  this  material.  The  fatty  acids  of  cod 
liver  oil  are  of  a  peculiar  and  unusual  type,  although  not  of  the 
chaulmoogric  series.  If  the  results  of  Rogers  are  confirmed,  it  will 
appear  that  the  fatty  acids  of  cod  liver  oil  are  also  useful  in  leprosy. 
Although  it  may  be,  as  suggested  by  Rogers,  that  "other  unsaturated 
fatty  acids  may  also  be  expected  to  yield  effective  preparations 
against  the  acid-fast  bacilli  of  both  leprosy  and  tuberculosis,"  it 
seems  to  us  unlikely  that  this  is  a  property  common  to  all  unsaturated 
fatty  acids.  For  example,  oleic  acid,  which  is  unsaturated  to  the 
same  extent  as  chaulmoogric  acid,  is  a  common  body  constituent, 
and  it  would  therefore  be  rather  improbable  that  weekly  injections 
of,  say  5  Cc.  of  a  3  per  cent,  solution  of  sodium  oleate  amounting 
to  0.15  gram  dry  material,  would  have  any  such  effect  in  leprosy  as 
has  been  reported  following  the  use  of  even  smaller  quantities  of 
the  sodium  soaps  of  the  fatty  acids  of  chaulmoogra  oil.  Obviously 
a  wide  and  important  field  for  chemical  and  physiological  investiga- 
tion has  been  opened  by  this  Avork  of  Sir  Leonard  Rogers  and  our 
own  work  here. 
As  an  initial  step,  the  fatty  acids  of  chaulmoogra  oil  were  sepa- 
rated into  four  fractions  in  the  chemical  laboratory  of  the  College  of 
Hawaii.    One  of  these  fractions  was  chaulmoogric  acid  and  the 
