TEDAUNEM, 29 



Anvali-i-Kunjad in Persian ; it is used as an emollient, both 



externally and internally. 



Sesamum (0-7/0-0/^ ov) is frequently mentioned by Greek and 

 Latin autbors. Lucian (P/sc. 41) speaks of a aria-afxatos liKaxovsi 

 this was probably similar to the til ka laddu of India. 



Sesame oil was an export from Sind to Europe, by way of tbe 

 Red Sea, in tbe days of Pliny. In tbe Middle Ages tbe plant 

 was known as Suseman or Sempsen, a corruption of tbe Arabic 

 Simsin or Samsim. It is now called by Europeans, both in 

 India and Europe, Jinjili, Jugeolme^ Gigeri, GengeK, or QingeUy^ 

 which appear to be corruptions of tbeword Juljulan. The oil i& 

 one of the most valuable of Indian vegetable oils; it keeps for 

 a long time without becoming rancid, and is produced in large 

 quantities in almost every part of the Peninsula. The following 

 mode of preparation is described in the Jury reports of the 

 Madras Exhibition: — ^^The method sometimes adopted is that 

 of throwing the fresh seeds, without any cleansing process, 

 into the common mill, and expressing in the usual way. The 

 oil thus becomes mixed with a large portion of the colouring 

 matter of the epidermis of the seed, and is neither so pleasant to 

 the eye nor so agreeable to the taste as that obtained by first 

 repeatedly washing the seeds in cold water, or by boiling them 

 for a short time, until the whole of the reddish-brown colour- 

 ing matter is removed and the seeds have become perfectly 

 white. They are then dried in the sun, and the oil expressed 

 as usual. The process yields from 40 to 44 per cent, of a very 

 pale straw-coloured sweet-smelling oil, an excellent substitute 

 for olive oil/' 



Hydraulic presses are now in use in the more civilized parts 

 of India for extracting the oil, but have as yet by no means 

 superseded the native oil mill. 



Sesamum oil may be used for plaster-making, but it takes 

 more oxide of lead than groundnut oil, and does not make so 

 light-coloured or so hard a plaster. After a prolonged trial at 

 the Government Medical Store Department in Bombay, its use 

 was abandoned in favour of the latter oil ior the followin 



g 



