Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
January,  1921.  J 
Chaulmoogra  Oil  Derivatives. 
45 
other  three  were  mixtures  of  acids  having  somewhat  different 
properties.  These  fatty  acid  fractions  are  solids,  and  therefore  un- 
available directly  for  hypodermic  or  intramuscular  injections.  One 
of  the  first  problems  was  to  find  a  suitable  form  of  material  for  in- 
jection which  would  allow  rapid  absorption  into  the  circulation. 
It  was  found  that  the  ethyl  esters  of  the  fatty  acids  were  thin  fluid 
oils  lending  themselves  readily  to  intramuscular  injections  and  were 
readily  absorbed. 
The  four  fractions  originally  tried  out,  and  designed,  respec- 
tively, "A,"  "B,"  "C"  and  "D"  were  of  the  following  character : 
Fraction  "A" :  The  ethyl  ester  of  chaulmoogric  acid. 
Fraction  "B" :  The  ethyl  esters  of  the  other  fatty  acids  readily 
separating  on  cooling  the  alcoholic  solution  of  the  mixed  fatty  acids 
of  chaulmoogra  oil,  doubtless  containing  considerable  of  "A." 
Fraction  "C" :  The  ethyl  esters  of  the  fatty  acids  remaining  in 
the  mother  liquor  from  the  separation  of  the  acids  in  "A"  and  "B" 
and  yielding  lead  salts  readily  soluble  in  ether. 
Fraction  "D" :  Ethyl  esters  of  the  fatty  acids  accompanying 
"C"  in  the  alcoholic  separation,  but  yielding  lead  salts  not  readily 
soluble  in  ether. 
The  early  results  of  the  use  of  these  fractions  "A,"  "B,"  "C,'5 
and  "D,"  together  with  some  details  of  the  methods  of  their  prepara- 
tion, are  given  by  Hollmann  and  Dean. 
The  results  published  and  a  continuation  of  the  same  line  of 
work  led  to  the  general  conclusion  that  the  therapeutic  agent  in 
chaulmoogra  oil  is  able  to  survive  the  chemical  treatments  involved 
in  the  making  of  these  preparations  and  is  itself  distributed  through 
all  four  of  the  fractions.  The  differences  in  results,  using  the  differ- 
ent fractions,  are  not  sufficient  to  warrant  any  final  conclusions  re- 
garding their  relative  efficiency;  patients  receiving  each  of  the 
fractions  have  shown  marked  improvement,  have  become  bacterially 
negative,  and  have  been  paroled.  It  is  impossible,  however,  to  draw 
definite  conclusions  from  this  work  because  of  the  fact  that  all 
patients  who  received  the  injections  also  regularly  received  chaul- 
moogra oil  by  mouth  in  substantial  quantities.  We  cannot  say  there- 
fore, whether  the  beneficial  action  in  any  particular  case  is  due  to 
the  material  injected  or  to  the  combined  action  of  the  material 
injected  and  that  taken  by  mouth.  The  general  observation  that 
Chaulmoogra  oil  taken  by  mouth  has  a  beneficial  but  not  decisive 
action  lends  color  to  the  belief  that  the  most  important  factor  in 
