January I, 1886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



493 



Mr. Davies, in reply, said that he was very much 

 gratified at the interest which had been raauit'ested 

 with respect to tho.^e oils. As reg-arded the emplastruin 

 plunibi. he mast say that it was not at present satisfact- 

 ory. T.nt lie was not at all prepared to say that 

 a good plaster could not he made witli the oil. The 

 PiKirmacopojia proportion of lithm-ge had been used 

 in this case, and the time of boiling had bean about 

 tour or five hours. In such matters " rule of thumb ' 

 was bouuil to obtain to a certain extent. As to the 

 fatty acids, he had given in each case -the amount 

 produced by a given weight of the oil, and the pro- 

 portion dissolved by the washing water, and of what 

 they might call insoluble fatty acids. He had not 

 compared the percentages of the fatty acids with those 

 of olive and almond oils, but he had compared the 

 new oils with olive and almond oil in respect to the 

 amount of potash required to saponify a given amount 

 of oil, or the saturation equivalent, as it was called. 

 This comparison pointed to the similarity which he 

 had indicated being very great. In this respect the 

 tea oil very closely resembled olive oil, and there 

 was a resemblance also with regard to the specific 

 gravities of the two oils. The cabbage oil hore a 

 resemhlance to rape oil in respect to the saturation 

 equivalent. The wood oil, however, did not resemble 

 any other oil with which, he had compared it, and 

 thenfore probably it would be found that in the ease 

 of the wood oil there was a distinct acid, different 

 from anythiug else Avhicli had been previously dis- 

 covered. "While speaking of the drying oil he might 

 mention that its drying character was exceedingly 

 apparent. He hail not been aware that anyone else 

 had worked at these oils until he saw the statement 

 in JMr. Holmes's paper, Ijut it appeared that Cloez 

 Dublished, in the CuuipUs Rendus for 1S75, an account 

 of a seed yielding one of these oils. But the oil which 

 Oloez described differed from the oil he (Mr. D.^vles) 

 liad found, inasmuch as it was of a lighter colour. 

 With regar<l to the action of solvents, he had found 

 that alcohol effected a considerble ditference in the 

 appearance of the oil. When the oil was boiled with 

 alcohol a portion appeared to dissolve, and it was 

 dilHcult to tell while the liquid was hot whether 

 the oil was all dissolved or not, but when the liiiuid was 

 allowed to cool, the oil commenced to deposit, and 

 when it was collected it was found to be much 

 lighter in colour. It would appear that at any rate 

 one constituent of the oil was soluble iu alcohol, 

 though as a whole the oil was not soluble. ^Vith 

 regard to the commercial aspect of the question, 

 he" had done his best to obtain information, but he 

 had altogether failed in that respect. Eespecting 

 (lie iiiteiual administration of the oil, about which 

 Mr. liroves had asked, he was not aware that any 

 rxpeiimtiit had been tried. He should feel much 

 ilillidfiice in taking himself any oil derived from 

 the Kiiphorbiace;e, but he was quite willing to 

 supply oil for the |iurpose of the experiment. The 

 lubricating quality of the camellia oil bad been 

 alluded to in the paper. Wiiether the oil would 

 rcfusi! to dry under the action of a warm atmo- 

 ■ sphere he did not know. He had exposed some of 

 till! oil upon filter papers in the tolerably warm 

 temiierature of the laboratory without auy percepti- 

 ble drying. He had not ascertained the amount of 

 lu^at (levoloped by any of the oil.s under the action 

 of sul[ihuric acid. He did not see what useful end 

 would be served by such an exi>erimeut. 



Mr. Holmes said that ho could add nothing with 

 regard to the medicinal properties of the wood oil. 

 Ill- could only suggest that as the oil was used for 

 application to ulcerated sores, he should think that 

 it might be used with comparative safety internally. 

 A.S to the adulteration of tfic^ wood oil, the Chinese 

 had an excellent character fur imitation and adulter- 

 ation, and unless tlie oil could bo obtained 1 hrough an 

 English factory or an English firm, he should very 

 much doubt wbethi-r it would always be exported puro. 

 The camellia oil which had been exhibited w.as not 

 obtained from the Camel/in Ihea, but from the Camellia 

 japoiiica, and as far as he had observed, the latter 



did not possess auy perfume. The camellia oil which 

 was exhibited was not derived from the seeds of the 

 tea troe (from which indeel it seemed to differ, 

 since a specimen of od in the mu-ieam, and which 

 was labelled oil of the seeds of the tea tree, had 

 become semi-solid), but was nbtaiund from the plan t 

 known in this couutry .as the camellia {OiiiielHii 

 ;ij;»»'im), thi flowers of which were so commonly 

 worn in button-holes. The Chinese oil was apparently 

 obtainel from another species, UaiiiiUia nlrif'ei'a. In 

 .speaking of the uses of these oils in .Tapan he did 

 not intend to point out that they might be so used 

 in this country. It was quite possible that the .lapanese 

 and Chinese might not object to the Hivour of must- 

 ard or cabbage iu the oils used for culinary pur- 

 poses—tastes differed in such matters. Tbe camellia 

 oil moreover might in some samples have a acrid 

 taste, which was very preceptible in the seeds, aud 

 might easily be communicated to tbe oil if it were 

 obtained by hot pressure. 



A vote of thanks to the authors having been 

 passed, at the rerquest of tbe Vice-President — 



Mr. Holmes called attention to various pharm- 

 aceutical specimens which were exhibited cm the table. 

 Among these were specimens of various salts of 

 cocaine presented by Jlr. Merck, an alkaloid which, 

 as they all knew, in a very short time had obtained 

 a great reputation as an ancesthetie, There was 

 also a series of specimens of medicinal products from 

 Jamaica, received from the Director of the Botan- 

 ical Department at Gordon Town. The Director had 

 piad great attention to the cultivation of the various 

 drugs, as cinchona, jalap, etc., in the island, aud 

 recently he had turned his attention to the pre- 

 paration of Barbadoes aloes, a specimen of which 

 was on the table, while a small duplicate was at 

 the disposal of any member who would be willing 

 to examine and report upon it. Some leaves of the 

 Eucahiptus citriodora had been sent by the same 

 donor.' These had exactly the ordour of citronelle 

 oil, and would probably yield an oil that might 

 compete with it iu fragrance. A specimen of the 

 stem of the Canella alba with the outer bark attached 

 also came from .Tamaica. The bark being dried on 

 the stem did not possets the white colour which 

 was generally seen in the commercial article, but 

 showed the outer bark, which is removed in its 

 preparation for the market. The Oui-ator also direct- 

 ed attention to a specimen of a bark which had 

 been recently recommeu led fur luse in diabetes, 

 Sii-Jiifiiim jamholaiwma, A specimen of spurious musk 

 pod,' sent by Mr. H. A. ^\'■ooluough, of Hong-Kong, 

 cousisted of a piece of the skin of the musk deer with 

 the hair attached, and was very nearly sewn up so as to 

 resemble a true pod, but the contents were worthless. 

 There were two very fine specimens of pip-menthol pre- 

 pared from tlie true peppermint by Mr. A. Tod, of 

 Jlichigau. It was proposed to introduce this into cora- 

 inerce to compete with the Japanese methol. It 

 appeared drier than the Japanese drug, but opinious 

 seemed to differ as to its superiority for use in medicine. 

 A clnstor of pods of the Mexican v.anilla, growing 

 on the original stalk, had been presented to tne 

 Museum by Mr. II. (Jocksedge. It was very rare to 

 .see it iu eommerCe in this form. He should like to 

 know whether the vanillin exuded, from the fruits iu 

 the form of vapour aud then orystallized, as the 

 crys';als extended in some cases to fully half an 

 inch beyond the pod, and as these were formed at the 

 ordinary temperature it would seem as llioiigh it was 

 volatile at about that of the air. A large spci-imen 

 of -'mandrake root" had been sent for exhibition by 

 Mr. C. Osmau, of Sutton. It might not be known 

 to all pharmaceutical students that white bryony root 

 {Bri/'iiii'i iilli'i) was sold uuder this name; it should 

 not" be confounded with the pl.int called mandrake 

 in the United States (/'o<i'u/>/tyW»iH.;)f/(irt«m), nor with 

 the ti-ne mandrake (/Itm/m mandrarjiira). A specimen 

 of the fal.so cubebs which had been mentioned in the 

 Journal hail been placed upon the table for examination 

 by the members present, since it w.as possible it might 

 como into commerce. This was the article that had 



