Spec. Plant. Willd. iii. 1428. Cl. 13. Ord. 3. Polyadelphia Icosandria. Nat. ord. Myrtaceae. G. 1392. Calyx five-cleft, half superior. Corolla, petals five.

Filaments numerous, connate in five bodies. Style one. Capsule half-covered, three-celled. Species Nova. M. minor.,4 Cajuputi Melaleuca, Rumphius (arbor alba minor). Herbar. Amboinense, ii. lib. 2. cap. 26. t. 17. Officinal. Cajuputi, Lond. Melaleucae Leucadendri Oleum volatile, Edin. Oleum volatile Cajuput, Dub. Cajuputi oil.

Syn. Cajeput (F.), Kajeputohl (G.), Cajeput (I.), Cajuputa (Malay), Kya-pootie tylum (Tawi.), Kynpootie ka tail (Duk.).

The tree which yields this oil is a native of Amboyna, Java, and the south part of Borneo, where it grows very abundantly in dry arid places. It is named cajuputa5 in the Malay language; and also by the natives daun kitsjil, and caju-kilan. It is a small tree, in some situations rather a shrub than a tree, with a running root, often arched, and half above the ground. The stem is covered with a rough, pale, lamellated bark. The leaves are alternate, on short petioles,

1 Annates de Chimie, xxxix. 110. 2 Journal de Physique, lix. 428.

3 The ancients prized it highly as a medicine, as upon it Jupiter was nourished.

4 As the specimens of the tree which yields the true cajuputi oil, which were sent home by Mr. Christopher Smith, differ from the M. Leucadendron, which was formerly supposed to yield it, and agree with the arbor alba minor of Rumphius, Dr. Maton and Sir J. E. Smith have fixed this as a new species, under the name of M. Cajuputi.

5 Kayu-puti means in English white wood; thence Rumphius terms it arbor alba. Mat. Med. of Hindostan, not unlike those of the willow, about three inches long, and little more than half an inch broad, lanceolate, and somewhat falcated; entire, smooth, three-nerved, firm, dry, fragile, of a pale yellowish green colour, and having a very grateful odour. The flowers are white, sessile, and accompanied with minute ovate bractes. The calyx is tubular, five-toothed, and one half deciduous; the petals are roundish, and concave; and the bundles of the filaments, which are long, filiform, and bearing small ovate anthers, are fixed within the tube of the calyx. The germen is inferior, roundish, crowned with a simple slender style longer than the filaments; and becomes a three-celled capsule, containing many small, oblong, angular seeds.1

To prepare the oil, the leaves are collected on a hot, dry day, and put into thoroughly dry bags; in which, nevertheless, they soon spontaneously heat and become moist, as if macerated in water. They are then cut in pieces, infused in water, and left to ferment for a night; after which they are distilled. The quantity of oil they yield is very small, scarcely more than three fluid drachms being obtained from two bags of leaves.2 When newly drawn it is very limpid, pellucid, and volatile; and, Rumphius says, smells strongly of cardamoms, but is more pleasant. It was formerly imported in copper flasks or canisters; but now it is often brought home in quart glass bottles. On account of the high price of real cajuputi oil, it is said to be often adulterated with oil of turpentine, and coloured with resin of milfoil.

Qualities.-The odour of this oil, as it is brought to us, is at first powerful, and similar to that of a mixture of oil of turpentine and camphor, but it soon becomes extremely fragrant and agreeable: the taste is pungent, and resembles very much that of camphor. It is limpid, transparent, and generally of a grass-green colour, which is said to be partly derived from the copper of the flasks; but Mr. Brande says, "none of the samples which I have examined contain copper."3 When dropped on the surface of pure water, it diffuses itself over it, and very soon completely evaporates, which is a good test of its purity: and it burns rapidly, without leaving any residuum. Like other volatile oils, it is entirely soluble in alcohol, which is not the case when it is adulterated with fixed oil. It is partially soluble in water.

1 The natives of the Moluccas macerate the leaves and flowers in fresh oil, and afterwards impregnate the oil with the smoke of benzoin. This preparation they call minjac money, or odorated oil, and use it as an unguent for the head.- Rumphius, Herb. Amboin. 1. c,

2 Rumphius. .3 Manual of Pharmacy, p. 43.

Medical properties and uses.-Cajuputi oil is a highly diffusible stimulant, antispasmodic, and diaphoretic.1 When taken into the stomach, it produces a sensation of heat, fills and quickens the pulse; and, soon afterwards, a copious sweat breaks out. It is efficaceously given in dropsy, chronic rheumatism, palsy, hysteria, flatulent colic, and other spasmodic and nervous affections. As a local and external stimulant, it is employed diluted with olive oil, as an embrocation to allay the pain of gout and rheumatism, and to restore vigour to joints after sprains. When put into a carious tooth it lulls the pain of toothach; and we have seen much benefit derived from rubbing it on the temples, in defective vision from a weakened state of the eyes. The dose is . ij. to vj. on a lump of sugar, or in any bland fluid.