THE 
AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY,  • 
SEPTEMBER,    18  55. 
NOTE  ON  NECTANDRA  PUCHURY  MAJOR  AND  MINOR,  AS  THE 
SOURCE  OF  PICHURIM  OIL  AND  PICHURIM  BARK  AND  BEAN 
OF  COMMERCE. 
By  J.  Carson,  M.  D.  &c. 
In  the  January  number,  1851,  of  this  Journal,  Is  a  paper 
entitled  "  On  an  Oleo  Resin  from  Venezuela,  by  Wm.  Procter, 
Jr.,"  giving  an  account  of  a  peculiar  product  having  character- 
istics as  thus  designated,  and  derived  from  South  America. 
Within  a  few  months,  a  specimen  of  the  same  fluid  has  been  pre- 
sented to  me  by  Mr.  Dulles,  of  the  firm  of  Dulles,  Earle  & 
Cope,  druggists,  of  this  city,  with  specimens  of  the  bark  and 
fruit  of  the  tree  from  which  it  is  derived.  Simultaneously  with 
the  reception  of  these  specimens,  I  received  through  the  kindness 
of  Dr.  Ruschenberger,  U.  S.  N.,  the  fruit  of  a  tree  inhabiting 
Brazil,  labelled  Pichurim  nuts,  and  which  have  been  determined 
to  belong  to  the  plant  at  first  known  as  the  Laurus  Piehurim, 
but  now  placed  in  the  genus  at  the  head  of  this  note.  The  fruit 
derived  from  both  sources  is  the  same,  differing  only  in  size. 
With  this  clue  to  the  origin  of  the  oily  product  described  by  Mr. 
Procter,  it  will  be  interesting  to  trace  its  Natural  History,  which 
will  be  done  at  some  length  in  the  present  communication. 
In  the  paper  by  Mr.  Procter  it  is  inquired,  is  this  fluid  identi- 
cal with  the  "  oil  of  laurel,"  or  is  it  an  analogous  product?  I 
am  inclined  to  believe  that  it  is  the  article  referred  to  by 
Pereira  under  that  name,  for  reasons  to  be  given  when  speaking 
of  the  oil. 
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