492 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [January r, 1886, 



in the warmer parts of Japau, and is also cultivated 

 ill niountaiuous places auJ woods, as well as by 

 roadsides, chiefly in the provinces of Homodak<;i 

 and Figo, in the central parts of the Isle of Nippon 

 uiul in the provinces of Suruja, Sagiunl, Musasi and Idzu. 

 The seeds yield 35 per cent of oil by cold expression, 

 Imt the specimen presented to the Museum of the 

 Scn:iety has probably been made by boiling the 

 crushed kernels previous to expression, siuce the 

 coll drawn oil is colourless, inodorous, and nearly 

 tasteless, and according to 01oez» has a sp. gr. of 

 0'93()3, moreover it solidifies rapidly when exposed 

 to light in a closed vessel filled so as to exclude 

 air. The Japanese oil, on the contrary, has a brown- 

 ish colour and a higher specific gravity, as has 

 been shown by Mr. Davies; it remains perfectly 

 lluid when exposed to light. The wood oil, or " dou- 

 coua," as it is called in Japan, is employed to fill 

 the pores of wood before applying lacquer ; it is 

 also used, like tar, to render wood impermeable to 

 moisture. It is stated by Oloez to be the most 

 di-yiuf oil known. In medicine the oU is used in 

 skin diseases, and mixed with other ingredients to 

 make an application for ulcerated wounds and car- 

 buncle. The cold-drawn, pale-coloured oil is, accord- 

 ing to Dr. E. Mene, used tor varnishing furniture, 

 umbrellas, paper, and paper leather. 



In China the oil is oue of the iirincipal articles 

 of native manufacture; in the provinces of Kyangsi, 

 C.lnkyang, and Szechuen it is universally employed 

 for painting and caulking junks and varnishing and 

 preserving all kinds of woodwork. Hankow is the 

 chief market for the outward trade, and exported in 

 1878 as much as 3.36,053 piculs (133J lb.) and 203,830i 

 piculs in 1879. The importance of this commercial 

 product has already attracted the attention of the 

 Director of Kew Gardens, for it is stated in the Kew 

 Report for 1880, p. 11, that seeds of the tree had been 

 obtained from Szechuen and distributed to Oeylon, 

 Demerara, Dominica, .Jamaica, Zanzibar, and the 

 United States. An attempt to naturalize the tree in 

 Algeria has also been made by the French. 



In view of the frecjuent adulteration of linseed 

 oil with resin oil, etc., the appearance in the market 

 of an oil possessing still greater drying proper- 

 ties may be hailed as a cu-cumstauce likely to lead 

 to the production of a purer and equally valuable 

 drying oil by our colonial possessions. 



Mr. Naylor said that the meeting was very much 

 indebted to Mr. Davies for the information winch 

 he had given upon the chemistry of these oils, and 

 also to Mr. Holmes for giving them some particulars 

 respecting their history and commercial uses. He 

 had been particularly struck with the sample of tea 

 oil which had been handed round. Some time ago 

 a sample of oil had been placed in his hands along 

 with several samples of olive oil. It was a kind of 

 oil which could not be well identified -with olive, 

 and he rather gathered from the observations which 

 iie had just he:ird and from the examination which 

 be had made that the oil of which he spoke must 

 have been either tea oil or a product very closely 

 related to it. He was a little surprised that the 

 sample of lead plaster had not come out somewhat 

 better. It appeared to be rather greasy. Perhaps 

 if different proportions of litharge and oil hail been 

 used and the mode of preparation somewhat altered, 

 a very fair emplastrum plumbi might heve been 

 obtained. The drying oil was really a very remark- 

 able body. He did not think that it was approached 

 in its drying qualities ))y any oil mot with in this 

 country. There was a large demand for an oil which 

 would possess drying powi;rs superior to those of 

 linieed for the preparation of gutta percha and 

 rubber compounds. Some further information as to 

 the commercial value of these new oils might be 



interesting. j. c ■ j. .. 



Mr Groves said that a great amount of interest 



attached to this new drying oil. He had been won- 



* Com2>tes I'kndKs, vol. Ixxxi., 1875i pp. <160. 



dering whether it had any purgative effect like that 

 of castor oil and similar oils. If it could be obtained 

 at anything like the price of linsee<l oil it would 

 be extremely valuable, for linseed oil freipiently was 

 contaminated by products derived from cruciferous 

 seeds. 



Mr. Tanner said he had been more especially in- 

 terested with the tea oil. He did not quite join in 

 the condemnation of the lead plaster. He wished 

 to know whether Mr. Davies used the proportions 

 of oil and Htharge ordered by the Pharraacopiuia, 

 and whether he followed the instructions as to the 

 boiling. The soft condition of the plaster would, he 

 thought, tend to show that a larger proportion of 

 litharge was requisite. 



Mr. Allen said he had always heard that a certain 

 fortune aw.aited the man who could introduce an 

 oil which would dry quickly and not deteriorate 

 paintings. The drying oil which had been described 

 seemed to be of such a remarkable nature that Mr. 

 Davies would do well to investigate it further. The 

 camellia oil which had been spoken of was another 

 example of an oil which might become remarkably 

 useful. "Watchmakers had the greatest difficulty in 

 finding an oil which would not dry, and as many 

 clocks were placed in elevated positions in a heated 

 atmosphere, especially in pharmacies, perhaps the 

 oil could be advantageously used in connection with 

 such clocks. The pharmacist's clock exercised a great 

 deal of the watchmaker's ingenuity. 



Mr. Chubb said he should like to know whether 

 Mr. Davies had tried the effect of sulphuric .acid 

 upon the oil in respeet to the heat that was produced 

 by the action of the acid upon the oil. That heat 

 must of course be tremendous. He should also like 

 to know whether Mr. Davies had tried the effect of 

 solvents upon wood oil in order to see whether alcohol, 

 for instance, woulil extract anything from the oil. 

 As to the other two oils, he understood that the 

 amount of acid in them was practically nothing. A 

 short time ago he examined a whole stock of oils 

 for a large manufacturer in Liverpool, and after 

 that he obtained about thirty samples from different 

 brokers in Liverpool, and out of the whole of the 

 samples there was not a single specimen of fatty 

 oil which contained less than J per cent of free 

 fatty acid. He had understood that in a very large 

 stock of oils examined in France the average was 

 about 3 per cent of free fatty acid. 



Mr. Watson "Will said that the tea oil had been 

 stated to be closely allied to olive oil. He wished 

 to know whether it contained the same amount of 

 fatty acid. If it contained a larger amount of free 

 fatty acid, that fact would explain the reason why 

 the lead plaster was greasy. He should like to know 

 the specific gravity of the brassica oil. 



The Vice-President said that he hoped Mr. Davies 

 would prosecute his intpiiries upon the chemical 

 side of this research. He thought that it would be 

 right for the meeting to recognize distinctly the value 

 of the work which had been done iu that direction. 

 As Mr. Davies had told them, the work in that 

 direction was not complete. That seemed to be the 

 case with nearly all chemical research. Investigators 

 never seemed to approach finality, even with regard 

 to those substances which were the very alphabet 

 of their pharmaceutical existence. Looking com- 

 mercially at the subject which had been brought 

 before the meeting, his own impression was that 

 there was a vast future iu the direction of the 

 exports from those comparatively unknown countries, 

 China and Japau. .Japan was a most interesting 

 countiy, with a civilization strangely antique and 

 strangely new, and at present we had access to the 

 country only through the Treaty Ports. Sir. Holmes, 

 in his paper, referred to the fact that one of the 

 oils was used for cooking' imrposes. He (the A'ice- 

 President), confessed that though the oils exhibited 

 very elegant pharmacy iu respect to their colour 

 and the handsome bottles which contained them, he 

 should not like either of thorn to be used for cook- 

 ing his omelette. 



