SS6 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[Febrttart I, 1884. 



vegetable talluw I have mentioued caunot be derived from 

 a Dipterocarpous plant. 



In coufirmation of my opinion that the seeds sent me 

 by Mr. Jamie are those of a Dipterocarpous plant, and that 

 fixed oil is obtained from Dipterocarpous seeds, I may say, — 

 a. That previous to publishing any account of the fat, 

 I had shown the seeds sent with it to Professor Oliver, 

 who at once referred them to the Dipterocarpea and now 

 agrees with me that they probably belong to the genus 

 Skorea, as limited by Beutliam. This genus is said by Bentham 

 to be scarcely distinct from Hopea, the former having as a 

 chief distinguishing character three or more of the lobes 

 of the caly.t enlarged unequally when in fruit, and the latter 

 only two enlarged. 



h. That in the No. 1 Museum, at Kew, there are speci- 

 mens of tlie fats of the seeds of two Dipterocarpous plants, 

 viz., the fat of Valeria indica, well known to yield resin 

 in the bark, and the vegetable tallow from Singapore. In 

 another part of the Museum, among unnamed products, 

 ■ there are some of the larger Dipterocarpous seeds, ident- 

 ical witli those sent me by Mr. Jamie (probably Hopea 

 mucropki/Ua, de Vriese). There is also a specimen of the 

 fruit of Lophira alata (Dipterocarpeie) labelled " Seeds from 

 which an oil called Meni is obtained." 



c. In Dr. AV. H. de Vriese's tract, six species of tallow 

 trees which are said by him to yield the vegetable tallow, 

 Minjak Tangkawang, are described. These are Hopea macro- 

 phyila, H. splendida, H. Balangeran, H. aspera, H. lanceo- 

 laUi and H. Seiiiinis. 



In the copy of this tract in the magniliceut botanical 

 library at K.ew, some of these species have been identified 

 doubtfully, in what I am informed is Mr. Dyer's hand- 

 writing, two of them as a species of Slwrea and one as a 

 species of Materia. The only explanation that seems pos- 

 sible is, either that Mr. Dyer had not read the text, which 

 is in Dutch, and had referred only to the Latin descrip- 

 tion of the species, or that he doubted the statements of 

 Dr. W. H. de Vriese and of other authorities whom Dr. 

 de Vriese quotes, that the vegetable tallow was obtained 

 from any Dipterocarpous plants. 



il. Mr. F. W. Burbidgo, the author of a most interest- 

 ing book on Borneo, has kindly furnished me with the fol- 

 lo'ving information concerning the preparation of oil or 

 fa t from Dipterocarpous seeds : — 



" The only place I saw the manufactm-e of oil from 

 I'ipterocarpus seeds was in a little village situated on the 

 I.awas River, between Labuan Island and Brunei. The 

 .seeds are placed in a leather bag or folded mat, which is 

 enclosed in a tough palm sheath folded into a V-shape, 

 so as to form a spout for the oil to drain into the recept- 

 acle placed to receive it. This sheath is placed obliquely in 

 tho pre.ss, so that an ' oil shed ' is formed, towards the 

 side on which the receiver or cooking pot is placed. The 

 oil press or Teitdasun consists of a stout plank placed on 

 two upright supports, fixed also into another stout plank 

 at the base. In an opening in the horizontal planks are 

 two vertical boards placed obliquely, between which the 

 bag of seed.s is placed, the pressure being applied by wedges 

 forcibly driven in behind the vertical boards. 



" The Dipterocarpous seeds (at least three species are 

 used) are collected and thrown into heaps, and are then 

 allowed to ' massuck ' as the Malays say, or ' blet ' as we 

 should say in English, before they are pressed. The pure 

 oil is used in cooking and the refuse is used in the making 

 of candles or rather rude torches. The process here de- 

 scribed is used by the Kadyans, a clean and healthy 

 ]\[ahomraedau tribe of Borneans, who live on the Lawas and 

 Merapok rivers, and to whom animal fat is an abomination." 

 Mr. Burbidge gives a sketch of the fruits, wliich are 

 evidently Dipterocarpous, and apparently have more than 

 three enlarged calyx lobes ; they correspond well as regards 

 size with the smaller Dipterocarpous seeds I have received 

 from J\Ir. Jamie. 



e. Professor Bernardin, of Melle-lez-Gand, in reply to 

 my inquiry if he coidd give any information as to the 

 botanical source of Minjak Tangkawang, says, " I think 

 the tallow comes from Hopea macroph/lla, vide Wiesner, 

 Riihstoffe, p. 107." He sends me a portion of a seed said 

 to yield it, which corresponds exactly with the larger variety 

 seiit bo by Mr. Jamie. 



I hope the above statements from competent authorities 

 may ho sufficient to show that I am iustified iu saying 



that the particular kind of Singapore vegetable tallow sent 

 me by Mr. Jamie is derived from Dipterocarpous seeds, 

 which may be referred to the genus Hopea by most writers 

 on the subject, although by some botanists they may be 

 considered to belong to other genera of l)ipterocarpe(e, 

 and that it is not a priori unlikely that any species of 

 Dipterocarpea would yield a vegetable tallow from the seeds. 

 I may add here, that I can see nothing improbable in the 

 occurrence of fixed oil in the seed of a plant which yields 

 a resin or oleo-resin in the bark, etc.. The fjlpteiociirpeie 

 is not the only family in which this occurs. (Janarimn 

 commune {Burseracete) yields a semi-solid oil from the seed 

 and an oleo-resin from the bark. Garcinia pictoria (Gutti' 

 feree) also yields a fat (solid in this country) from the 

 seed and a gum-resin from the bark. The chemistry of 

 plant life is so httle known at present that we are scarcely 

 in a position to say under what circumstances or by what 

 means resms, fat and caoutchouc are formed in plants, or that 

 all of them might not be formed iu the same plant, either 

 by vegetable ferments or by strictly chemical processes. 



" III. The last point raised by Mr. Dyer is the identity 

 of the vegetable tallow presented to the Museum by Mr. 

 Jamie with two or three specimens in the Kew Museum. 

 I have seen the specimens iu the Kew Museum, and, 

 through the kindness of the Curator, Mr. J. K. Jackson, 

 have been permitted to examine them. 



I find that one of the specimens in the form of a cylinder 

 is identical with Mr. Jamie's Dipterocarpous tallow, al- 

 though labelled " Bassia sp." ? Another specimen labelled, 

 as Mr. Dyer remarks, " Bassia .sp.", is of (juite a different 

 character. It has a rancid odour, is in crumbling ii-regular 

 pieces, and resembles in appearance and consistence the 

 fats of Bassia generally, and it is quite possible that it 

 may be derived from the Bornean Sapotaceous plant re- 

 cently named by Dr. Pierre. The thu-d specimen labelled 

 " Concrete oil, from a species of Bassia ; Sakarran ; Sir 

 James Brooke," is totally different from the other two. 

 It is enclosed in a bamboo joint, and consists of an almost 

 pulverulent micaceous mass, with a strong and fragrant 

 odour, between that of sassafras and nutmeg. The crystal- 

 line scales of which it consists closely resemble in appear- 

 ance those of myristic acid. The tat appears to have 

 soaked through the bamboo and has formed an efilor- 

 esceuce of micaceous crystals outside it. I should judge 

 from the above characters that the fat is obtained from 

 the seeds of some Lauraceous ijlant, possibly from the 

 Oi/licodaphne sehifera mentioned by Dr. W. H. de A^rieso. 

 To recapitulate: The vegetable tallow and seeds pre- 

 sented to the Museum of the Pharmaceutical Society by 

 Mr. R. Jamie are certainly of Dipterocarpous origin, and 

 are, in all probability, the produce of trees which have 

 been placed by Dr. "VV. H. de Vriese in the genus Hopea, 

 but which may possibly belong to allied genera, according 

 to the views held by different botanists, but they are un- 

 doubtedly not of Sapotaceous origin. 



The Sapotaceous plant sent to Kew by Madame de Vries 

 de Vries, named by Dr. Pierre, is most probably the source 

 of one of the kinds of vegetable tallow of Borneo and 

 possibly of the second specimen in the Kew Museum, but 

 not of that presented by Mr. Jamie to the Museum of 

 the Pharmaceutical Society. Lastly, the aromatic tallow, 

 No. 3 of the Kew Museum, from Borneo, is most likely 

 the produce of Ci/licodaphne sehifera, although, in conse- 

 quence of the absence of an authentic specimen for com- 

 parison, it is difficult to satisfactorily determine its identity. 

 This last-nameil product seems, however, worthy of atten- 

 tion as an aromatic fat and of chemical examination with 

 respect to the fatty acids and volatile oil it contains. — 

 Bliarmaceutical Journal. 



Progress of Plant Knowledge. — How the knowledge 

 of plants has progressed of late years may be illustrated by 

 that curious family Oi-chideaj. Linnieus could count all his 

 genera on his fingers ; now Bentham and Hooker in their 

 recent work describe 334. — Independent. 



CATARRH OF THF BLADDHR. 

 Stinging irritation, inflamation, all Kidney and similar 

 Complaints, cured by "Buchu-paiba." B. S. Madon & Co., 

 Bombay, General Agents. 



