336 REPORT OF THE LEPROSY COMMISSION:
Balfour, in his covering letter, arranges the medical reports
in three groups5-
(1) Those of officers in charge of the three Leper
Hospitals.-In these reports the opinion is ex-
pressed that the oil does not possess any particular
efficacy;
(2) Those of officers in charge of Civil Dispensaries and
Gaols.-These on the whole are favourable, and
several cases of improvement are reported;
(3) Those of Regimental Medical Officers.-The cases
under this head are necessarily few, as declared
leprosy is considered to unfit the subject for further
service and he is discharged. Gurjun oil is reported
to be useful in alleviating the more prominent symp-
toms of leprosy, and one case is said to have been
cured.
On the whole, Dr. Balfour considers the results of the trial
of gurjun oil to be encouraging, but points out that in the
supposed cases of cure it will be necessary to watch the future
medical history of the patient.
In Dr. Watt's Dictionary6 a summary is given of answers
received from nineteen medical men in India who were specially
questioned as to the utility of gurjun oil in leprosy. Of these
answers thirteen were positive, three negative, and three
neutral.
Answers were received by the Commission from a large
number of stations in which gurjun oil had been used for
leprosy. Many of these answers reported that more or less
relief had been obtained, but in no instance was there any
allusion to a cure. In some cases the relief afforded was very
slight. From other stations the answers stated that no effect
(5) Report on the Treatment of Leprosy with Gurjun oil and other Remedies
in Hospitals of the Madras Presidency. Madras, 1876: page ix.
(6) Op. cit., Vol. III, page 169.