16 



pith-balls ; but upon dividing them with the nail, they are found to 

 abound in a clear, colourless, tasteless, scentless oil, of which the 

 proportion is so large that it may be expressed from good fresh seeds 

 by the simple pressure of the nail. Geoffry informs us that he obtained 

 30^ ozs of oil from 8 lbs. decorticated see is, being at the rate of very 

 nearly 24 lbs. of oil from 100 lbs. of seeds. The oil thus obtained, is 

 the celebrated oil of Ben, or Behen. which Ht one period, constituted a 

 valuable branch of commerce wih the East until excessive imposts and 

 extensive adulteration brought it into unmerited disrepute. 



The Moringa-tree, as we learn from Dr. Broughton's catalogue of 

 East's garden, inserted in the '3rd vol. of Edward's History of the West 

 Indies, was introduced into Jamaica from the East Indies in the year 

 1784, and most probably foun i its way into the other islands about the 

 same time. Yet, though thus established for the best part of three 

 quarters of a century among our planters, notwithstanding the great 

 value of its oil, and the facility with which it can be obtained, the 

 moringa-tree has been hitherto valued merely as an ornamental shrub, 

 and cultivated, for the sake of its young pods, or the horse-radish of 

 its roots as luxuries for the table 



The oil which is so profusely obtained from the seeds is peculiarly 

 valuable for the formation of ointments, from its cap .bility of being 

 kept for almost any length of time without entering into combination 

 with oxygen. This property, together with the twtal absence of colour, 

 smell, and taste, peculiarly adapts it for the purposes of the perfum-r, 

 who is able to make it the medium for arresting the flight of those 

 highly volatile particles of essential oil, which constitute the aroma of 

 many of the most odoriferous flowers, and cannot be obtained, by any 

 other means, in a concentrated and permanent form. 



No 3.— On the Oil of Btn. 



From United States Dispensary. (Wood ^ Bache.) 



This is a fixed Oil extracted from the seeds of the Moringa ptery- 

 gosperma and M. aptera of Gaertner, confounded by Linnaeus under 

 the name of Guiiaudina Moringa. Hyperantkera Moringa (Vahl) is a 

 synonym of the former species. These are trees belonging to the family 

 of Leguminosae, inhabiting differei t parts of India, Arabia, Syria, &c., 

 and introduced into the West Indies. The leaves and other parts have 

 an acrid property, which has probably given the name of horse-radish 

 tree to the Moringa pter3'gosperma. The oil of the seeds has long 

 been known, though used rather in the aits than in medicine. Most 

 of it is ])repared in Europe from seeds brought from Europe, (Merat 

 and de Leus,) but it is also said to be extracted in the West Indies, 

 It is inodorous, clear, and nearly colourless, and keeps long without be- 

 coming rancid. It is employed for similar purposes as olive oil Ac- 

 cording to Volker the i>il contains margerin, olein, and a peculiar fatty 

 matter yielding a peculiar acid bv saponification which he proposes to 

 call benic acid. Journal de Pharm, et de Chim. xiii. 77. 



No. 4. — Extract from a letter from a London Merchant in reference 



to the Moringa Seeds.. 



" Mr. Kemble has sent home a sample of oil-seeds. I have shown 

 it to some brokers in that way, and have a sample now in their handa 



