MYETACE^ 379
commercial samples is accounted for by adulteration with turpentine
or petroleum. The oil is not used to any extent internally, but is em-
ployed externally as a stimulant and anti-spasmodic. Eucalyptus oil
with a high cineol-content is well able to replace it for most purposes.
Genuine Cajuput oil should contain at least 50 per cent, of eucalyptol,
as determined by the phosphoric acid process.
Much of the obscurity surrounding the origin of Cajuput oil has
been cleared up by the systematic investigation of the species by Baker
and Smith,
1
who state that there had been imported into Europe from
the East, about the beginning of the seventeenth century, an oil under
the name of " Cajoepoeli " (according to Linnaeus' spelling), but under a
later spelling "Cajuput". At that time, and long after its introduction,
the botanical origin was ascribed to Linnaeus' species (Melaleuca leuca-
dendron), as the specimens forwarded to Linnaeus were reputed to be
taken from trees from which the oil was obtained, and he evidently
described it under that impression, as shown by his original specimen
now in the possession of the London Linnean Society and labelled by
him " Cajoepoeli " and afterwards by Smith as Melaleuca leucadendron,
vera.
This reputed origin of the oil, however, was shown later by
Eoxburgh to be an error, being the true source of " Cajuput" a
Melaleuca which he named Melaleuca cajuputi, but this was found later
to be identical with Melaleuca minor, described earlier in 1813 by Smith
in Bees Cyclopcedia, Vol. XXIII, and so quite a distinct tree from that
to which Linnaeus had given the above name. However, many Euro-
pean systematists in the last century regarded the two as one, but the
early Indian botanists being very emphatic over the matter, always kept
them distinct, and Baker and Smith's investigations support the latter
botanists.
Schimmel & Co.
2
have examined the oils obtained from the narrow-
leaved and the broad-leaved varieties of Melaleuca leucadendrori grown
in Amani. They find that eucalyptol is entirely absenTTroin the broad-
leaved variety, and only present to a small extent, as compared with true
cajuput oil, in the narrow-leaved variety. The oil from the broad-leaved
variety contains about 78 per cent, of methyl-eugenol. The two oils had
the following characters :—Broad Leaved. Narrow Leaved.
Specific gravity
Optical rotation
Refractive index
Acid value.
Ester value
,, ,, (after acetylation). 1-0019
. - 3° 44'
. 1-5250
0-4
7-6
15-2
0-9056
- 0°22
1-4794
0-7
11-8
84-8
Since the original description by Linnasus was published, several
species have been described which had the general facies of his tree but
differed in some important characters.
The following Melaleuca oils have been described in addition to that
from Melaleuca minor :—
(^1) Jour, and Proc. Roy. Soc., N.S.W., xl. (1906), 60; xli. (1907), 196 ; xliv. (1910),
592; xlv. (1911), 365; xivii. (1913), 193.
" Report, October, 1914, 53.