January i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



505 



KECENT DONATIONS TO THE MUSEUM OF 

 THE PHARJIAOEUTIOAL SOCIETY. 



BY E. M. HOLMfiS, F.L.S., 



f ■■(itor of the Museum of the Pharmaceuticnl Society. 



I. VEGETABLE TALLOW FEOM SINOAPOEE. ' 



Mr. R. Jamie of Singapore, in a lettor accompany- 

 ing some interesting donations lately presented by him 

 to the Museum, has called my .ittcntiou to this sub- 

 stance as possessing the valuable property of not 

 readily turning rancid He remarks con^eruing it — 

 "The vegetable tallow never turns acid, and when the 

 white kind is got, which is seldom, it makes very 

 good ointment, simply with the addition of olive oil." 

 At the ordinary temperature this t.allow is a white 

 friable solid, softeniug into a pasty condition when 

 rubbed between the lingers and ultimately melting 

 sufficiently lobe rubbed in without leaving the haul 

 very greasy. It has a verj' slight nutty odour and taste. 

 It would seem therefore to be peculiarly suitable for 

 camphor balls, suppositories and pessaries; fu- ibe latter 

 its slowness iu meltiug seems to peculiarly fit it. 



Mr. E. Fielding at my request has made a few 

 preliminary experiments as to its melting point and 

 solubility iu various solvents. He reports as follows: 

 "At 65° F. it remains a little solid ; between 82° and 

 104° F. it has tlie cou^istence of flour paste ; it fuses 

 at about 118° F., but remains transparent and liquid 

 at 112° F, It is siilnble in about au equal weight of 

 Cold ether; it is spaiingly soluble in cold acetic ether 

 and aceto-c, but very soluble in these liquids whtn 

 heated, the great' r pari being precipitated on cooling; 

 it dissolves lU li.ilf its weight of cold chloroform, but 

 mixes with one-third of its weight of the same liquid 

 when heated. In bisulphide of carbon, either cold or 

 hot, it is extremely soluble. In cold benzol it is 

 soluble to the extent of about 1 in 4. In hot benzol 

 and petroleum spirit {hexaue or heptane) it dissolves 

 in all jiropnriious, but the solution gelatinizes on cooling. 

 It is very soluble in cold turpentine and dissolves in 

 it when lieated in all proportions. In alcohol it is 

 soluble to the extent of about I in 30 when cold or 

 1 in 20 wheu hot, and in isopropyl alcohol it dissolves 

 to the extent of abjut I part in 25 when cold, and 

 1 part in 4 when hot." Mr Fielding thinks it may 

 be compared iu many respects with the fat of Penta- 

 deviia hutynifea {Clusiaccce), which should, however, 

 judging from its natural order, be more nearly allied 

 to kokuni luitter {Garcinia jmrpurea). 



According to a cutting from the Java Bode news- 

 paper, sent to me l>y Mr. J.-mie, the vegetable tallow, 

 kn iwn as Miuyal; Tangkawang, or .VI inyak Sangka- 

 waug, U obtained fr.im the seeds of one or more trees 

 of I he genus Hopea. found in the S. and E. division 

 of Borneo, chiefly in the neighbotirhood of Qualla 

 Kapuiis, and on the west coast in the districts of Sambas 

 and Mampawa. The Dyaks call the fat Kakawang and 

 the tree which yields it Upu Kakawang. This tree is 

 one of the giants of the forest. Several species of 

 the genua appear to be used. Of thtse Hopea aplcnd- 

 ida, tlie Tougkawaiig Toiiggul, is al^o called by the 

 natives Dammar Tangkawang; (b.causc the b irk yields 

 a dammar?). The timber is us-d by the Djaks for 

 making their prabus, as it is prooif against the in- 

 fluence of water. The bark also yields a red dye. 

 This tree grows on alluvial flat clayey ground on the 

 banks of great rivers. Hopea uspcra grows on the 

 higher mountain tracts, principally on the declivities 

 of Manipawa, and is distinguished by the hairiness of 

 . the stems. 



The preparation of the fat is very simple. When 

 the ripe fruit falls on the ground, it is collected and 

 ■ allowed to gerniiuate a little in a moist place. It is 

 then dried in tbe sun until it becomes brittle. The 

 fruit is then deprived of its shell and put into a 

 rattan or bamboo basket suspended over boiling water. 

 G5 



When it has been well steamed, the fruit becomes 

 soft and plastic like dough. The fat is then expressed 

 by squeezing the doughy mass in a cloth and is poured 

 into joints of bamboos, by which it receives tha 

 cylindrical form in which it is met with in commerce. 

 Some Dyak tribes press the fruit by means of two beams. 

 But it is probable that by neither of these processes 

 is all the fat obtained. 



The trees begin to yield when they are about eight 

 or ten years old and the crops are somewhat irregular, 

 but every four or hve years an extraordinarily large 

 crop may be counted upon, the fruit being ripe in 

 December and January. According to 'Spoil's En- 

 cyclopajdia' (p. 1413), about ten species of Hopea, yield- 

 ing oU seeds diSering much in size, are recognized by 

 the natives of Borneo, throe of these being common 

 in Sarawak. The fat is also prepared in Java and 

 •Sumatra. By the natives the tallow is used for culinary 

 purposes. 



AlthoUi;h the tallow has not as yet been turned to 

 account in pharmacy in this country, there is no reason 

 why its (itness for medical purposes should not be 

 experimented upon, the fat b.-ing a regular article of 

 commerce. As tar back as 1856, 651,586 kilos were 

 imported into Singapore, and now several thousauds 

 of pi ;uls go yearly to;^iugapore and are exported thence 

 to England for use as a lubricating agent. For this 

 purpoie it has proved most valuable, especially for 

 steam machinery, far surpassing even olive oil. In 

 Manilla it has been employed in the manufacture of 

 caudles and found to be vtry valuable for this purpose. 

 There are doubtless many other purposes in tbe arts 

 to which the fat might be applied. It conti'ius gly- 

 cerine and about 65 per cent of sapomfiable matter 

 which has less oleiue in it than animal fat. The tree 

 is certainly also worthy of the attention of colonial 

 planters since it yields fat, dye, timber and probably 

 also resin, and the demand for the fat alone, when 

 it is better known and prepared in a pure state, will 

 probably far exceed the native supply.— Pharmaceutical 

 Journal. 



MODE OF CULTIVATION OF THE RHEEA 



PLANT. 



{Extracts from a report on the prep'iration and use oj 



liheea Ifibre. By J. FoRBts Watson, M.A., 



M.D., LL.D., ^c, ill 1875.) 



(Z).—Oultivation of Eheea in Aasam. 



With respect to the cultivation of the Rheea plant 

 and the preparation of its Hbre in Assam, I cannot 

 do better than quote from Colonel Hann.ay's publish- 

 ed observations, as well as fiom a communication 

 received from that gentlemn in 1859. 



"The sole cultivators of this plant are the dooms 

 ot fishermen, who use it ch etly in making their nets; 

 they cultivate it in very small quantity however; 

 and as the fourth crop is that which.bears seed, and 

 they cut it down before the seed is formed, the plant 

 is propagated entirely by dividing the roots. The 

 ground is a small plot close to their huts, which they 

 have great opportunities of attending to and manur- 

 ing well with ashes and cow-dung, a quantity of 

 which is essential to the proper growth of the plant. 



"I have mentioned four crops ; but as I have now 

 a crop, the fifth, since planting, tit for cutting in 

 February, and I see others belonging to the dooms in 

 the same state, there will be five crops fince plant- 

 ing, or six crops from April to April ; the last or 

 cold- weather crops, cut in February, being consider- 

 ed to produce the strongest fibre. However, as moist- 

 ure seems so essential to the quick growth of the 

 plant, generally speaking, after the early November or 

 fourth crop, the .looms allow the cattle free ingress 

 into their plots, and it is thus kept down till February. 



