BTW, I admire the Tragacanth research above. However, we must keep in mind two points.
First, a patent does not necessarily indicate a product from that patent was ever produced, much less sold. There are many patents that propose inventions and innovations that
never make it to market.Second, the finding above from a printed source that Campana regretted World War II shortages for Tragacanth ("one ingredient from Persia") that kept Italian Balm off the market ("there was no Italian Balm to be sold because Campana refused to use substitutes") IS significant, I believe. Moreover, this type of shortage would affect EVERY wartime product that used Tragacanth, including mosquito repellents, if any.
There seems to be evidence the wartime shortage of the ingredient - Tragacanth - that was found clinging to the artifact bottle - was real:
From
Perfumery and Essential Oil Record, Volume 34, 1943 "The shortage of tragacanth has impelled reformulation problems not only in the field of cosmetics but also in the pharmaceutical industry."
It's looking a bit tougher to put tragacanth - of ANY kind - into the hands of the Coasties. If Iran raised its prices to astronomical levels, which it seems they did, there was no profit in selling this product during the war years.
"Prices of exports — carpets, dried fruits, lambskins and furs, gum tragacanth, leather and hides and wool — have been rising, while prices of imports have been falling."
The Economist, Volume 151, p. 72, 1946Of course, you could always ascribe such a bottle - if it existed - to the colonists, who lived there before the shortage, but then again, wouldn't the colonists have known well in advance of going to Nikumaroro that there are no mosquitoes there?
From
Chemical Industries, Volume 59, page 742, 1946:"No shipments of tragacanth have left the Persian Gulf for some months, and unless shipments reach the U. S. before the end of the year an acute shortage is in prospect."
Of course, no door has been shut for certain. As Bill Lockhart once told me,
"Several times, in our research, the Bottle Research Group has accused me of the absurd, going off the deep end, positing something that is too extreme to be seriously considered. A remarkable number of times, the strange and unlikely has proven to be correct -- once we were willing to entertain it.
This does not mean that I support spending an enormous amount of time and money chasing will-o-the-whisps through swamps -- but we should at least look to see if one of them really IS the answer."
That's my approach as well.
The bottom line is we have heard the proposals for hypothetical bottles that COULD have existed. And make no mistake about it: They could have existed and still might be found. In my observation, however, we have only one sibling that we actually have IN HAND with the specifications listed.
Joe Cerniglia
TIGHAR #3078C