37 l 
The principal confumption of Olives is in the preparation of the 
common fallad oil, or oleum olivarum of the pharmacopoeias, which 
is obtained by grinding and prefling them when thoroughly ripe: 
the finer and purer oil iffues firft by gentle preflure, and inferior 
forts on heating the reiiduum, and preiling it more ftrongly, Th 
bell Olive oil is of a bright pale amber colour, bland to the tafle 
and without any fmell : it becomes rancid by age, and the fooner 
f kept in a warm fituation : by cold, at the 38 degree of Fahr 
therm, it congeals, and does not become rancid if kept in a degree 
of cold equal to the freezing point of water. c All the mild ex- 
preffed oils of vegetables are nearly of the fame nature; a preference 
however, in the opinion of Dr. Cullen, mould be given to the moil 
fluid, and hence the oil of olives, and that of almonds, are moil 
commonly directed for internal ufe. Oil, in fome ihape, forms a 
confiderable part of our food, both animal and vegetable, 1 and affords 
much nourifhment: with fome, however, oily fubilances do not 
with the contents of the flomach, and are frequently brought 
up by eructation ; this happens more efpecially to thofe whofe 
ilomachs abound with acid to an uncommon degree/ Oil confidered 
as a medicine is fuppofed to correct acrimony, and to lubricate and 
relax the fibres ; and therefore has been recommended internally to 
obviate the effects of various flimuli, which produce irritation 'ar 
confequent inflammation ; on this ground it has generally been pr 
fcribed in coughs, catarrhal affe&ions,and erofions. This oil has like wL 
been fuccefsfully ufed in worm cafes, and in nephritic pains, fpafms 
colics, conilipations of the bowels, &c. Externally it has been found 
an ufeful application to bites and flings of various poifonous animals/ 
Mufchenbroeck, Phil. Nat. torn. II. p. 616. <* Cullen, M. M. vol. i. p. <?o 2 . ' 
See the experiments of William Oliver, related in the Philofophical Tranfaciions, vol. 
39- P- 3 
oft 
fuffered his arm to be bitten by 
warm oil of Olives to the affeded part. Similar experiments were made upon pigeons, 
dogs, &c. with equal fuccefs. It failed however at Oxford, where thefe trials" were 
y, &c. See /. c. p. 394. N 
ntn various fuccefs,, and published in the Mem. de L'Acad. de Sc 1777 
gretted, that the particular fpecies of ferpent, by which the bites were p 
It 
d in any of the cafes alluded to. Linn<eus was much 
by the Coluber Cherfea 
given, 
m 
T7\ W *• oil Z 3S f^y ad ™«ifter e d both externally and mtcrLlW. Zr» 
Acad. vil. vi. p. 213. (i vil. u. p. 407. ' y "'""'- 
- 
burns, 
