EXPERIMENTAL AXU AXAIA'TICAL WORK 



10/7 



841 - Recent Investigations at the Imperial Institute in London, in reference to Maxi- 

 miliana Fruits, Tobacco, Coffee, Medicinal and Poisonous Plants, and Silk.— 



Bulletin of the Imperial Institute, Vol. XIV, No. i, pp. 1-44. Eondon, Jaiiuarj'-IMarch 1016. 



Cokerite fruits and oil from British Guiana. — The fruits of the cokerite 

 palm were identified by the Royal Botanic Garden of Kew as belonging to 

 a species of Maximiliana, probably M. regia. Their structure is similar 

 to that of the fruits of Elaeis guineensis, and, like the latter, they furnish 

 2 distinct oils : that of the pericarp and that of the kernel. An examina- 

 tion of the samples forwarded to the Imperial Institute gave the results 

 set out in Tables I, II and III. 



Tabee I. — Percentage composition of Cokerite fruit by iveighf. 



Bracts 12.4 Shell 53.6 



Pericarp 17.0 Kernel 17 -O 



Average weight of a fruit 10.6 gms. 



Average weight of a nut (fruit without bract or pericarp) .... 7.5 gms. 



Average weight of kernel 1.3 gnis. 



Tabee II. — Composition of Cokerite oils. 



Pericarp oil Kernel oil (3) 



lOo°C 



Specific gravitv at — 0.8668 



i5'>C 



Melting point (in open tube) — 27"C 



Solidifying point of fatty acids 25.5°C 24.2°C 



Acid value (i) 28.6 3.1 



Saponification number (i) 21 1.6 253.0 



Iodine number 51.4 % 13.0 % 



Hehner value — 88.9 



Insoluble fatty acids — 88.6 % 



Xon-saponifiable substance — 0,3 % 



Soluble volatile acids (2) — 3.0 



Insoluble volatile acids (2) — 7.0 



Tabee III. — Percentage coynposition of a cokerite kernel cake, 

 calculated Jor a cake containing 7",, oj fatty substance {4). 



Water 8.6 >;,^ 



( True protein 14.7 



Crude protein 15 % „^. ., , , 



'" / Other nitrogenous substances .... 0.3 



Fat 7.0 



Starch, etc. (by difference) 52.5 



Cellulose 12.6 



Ash 4.3 



1 00.0 



X'utritive ratio i : 4.6 



Xutritive units 108 



(i ) X'umber of mg. of potash for i gram of oil. 



(2) Number of cc. of decinormal alkali needed to neutralise acidity in 5 gr. of oil, 



(3) Prepared at the Imperial Institute. 



(4) The kernels contained 11.3 % of moisture and yielded 36.9 % of fat. 



eXPERIMENTAI 



AND 



ANALYTICAL 



WORK 



