428 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 4, 1886. 



as usual, is placed between each layer, and the whole gently 

 heated up to about 100° Fahr., when it is again subjected to 

 pressure, the result of which is a further yield of straw- 

 coloured oil, much used in the manufacture of printer's ink, 

 &c. The blanched seeds sometimes yield a total of 40 per 

 cent, of oil. The fiist quality is kept in a warm place (in 

 summer just beneath the roof), for some days, and deposits a 

 quantity of mucilaginous and fatty matter, after which it is 

 filtered. The filtering bags are made of a cloth found in com- 

 merce, and have a capacity of seven kilogrammes of oil. When 

 filled, the mouths of these bags being tied up, they are placed 

 on the tin-lined shelves, disposed in such a manner round a 

 room that, by the aid of tubes, the filtered oil flows from all 

 sides into the vessel placed to receive it. Each room usually 

 contains about 2000 kilogrammes of oil, the temperature being 

 kept at about 55° Fahr. The exhausted marc is used as a 

 manure for Hemp and Flax, for which purpose it is supposed 

 to be well adapted. 



Some little while ago it was proposed to use the marc as a 

 cosmetic in the same way as we employ almond meal, but it 

 did not answer this purpose, as it was found to possess con- 

 siderable irritant properties. Might not these qualities render 

 it a useful counter-irritant applied as cataplasma? As the 



marc is readily obtainable in England, it would be as well if 

 some one were to report on its therapeutical value. 



Complaints have been made of the difference of quality in 

 Italian castor-oils, and of the tendency in some samples to 

 deposit fatty granules in cold weather ; but the oil prepared 

 according to the method just described, which is that emplyed 

 in the Veronese territory, cannot be surpassed in taste or ap- 

 pearance, and gives little or no deposit in the ordinary tem- 

 peratures of winter. The deposit complained of is due to 

 greater heat having been employed in the processes of pressure 

 and filtration. 



From the large doses of the oil used in Italy, — sometimes 

 2 ozs., simple or mixed with almond oil, — it would seem that 

 the comparative tastelessness and brilliancy of the oil are 

 acquired at the expense of its purgative power. I have heard 

 or read that the Chinese use castor-oil in their salads. Surely 

 it can possess but feebly the purgative qualities of other 

 castor-oils, leading one to suppose that climatic influences and 

 mode of cultivation oppose the development of the purgative 

 principle, which is still further lessened in the oil by a careful 

 preparation. It is probable that to some such causes we must 

 attribute the peculiar blandness of true Italian castor-oil. — 

 H. Groves, Florence (in Pharmaceutical Journal). 



NEW BOOK. 

 Being a History of Plants with their Botanical Descriptions and Peculiar Properties. By Loots 

 Figuieb. Chapman & Hall, London. 



old leather breeches, and obtained the approbation of such an 

 epicure as the old Duke of Queensberry. We referred to recent 

 works on astronomy, geology, chemistry, and many others. We 

 went further back, pointed out how, even in law, Coke's Reports 



The Vegetable World : 



Tee other day we were remarking how science was now 

 universally popularised, and that men could be found who had 

 the art of making the driest subjects palatable, just as the 

 French cook made a ragout, the basis of which was a pair of 



had been versified ; and botany had been made a romance in 

 Darwin's " Loves of the Plants." The friend with whom we 

 were conversing there interposed, by adding, " All ! but no one 

 has succeeded in producing a botanical work that is instructive 

 as well as popular." Our reply was placing in his hand the 

 volume the title of which we have copied above, and we ob- 



tained his assent to our opinion that it is the best book for 

 imparting botanical knowledge attractively which has hitherto 

 been published. 



M. Figuier is one of those to whom we alluded, who specially 

 have the art of making dry subjects palatable ; and he is a 

 master of the art, for whilst making them palatable, he does 



