8 
fixed oil of remarkable character: it is described by Dymock oe 
Hooper in Pharmocographia Indica. It rapidly dries (? by 
oxidation) to a solid which is easily powdered and then is feaok 
uble in the usual fat solvents. We are examining this a little 
further. We have also found a crystalline substance, but in 
quantity so small that I fear we cannot do anything further with 
it unless we could get a much larger quantity of seed.’ 
Ten pounds of seeds were subsequently obtained from Hong- 
kong, and a further study of t was made under the direction 
of Prof. Greenish, by Messrs. C. B. Corfield, F'.1.C. and E. Caird, 
B.Se., A.I.C., in the Research Laboratory of the Pharmaceutical 
Socie ty. The manner and the results of the research were com- 
municated in the following report :— 
Tue Fat or Momorpica SEEDs.* 
At the request of the Assistant Director of the Roy a Botanic 
Gardens, Kew, an examination of the fat contained in the seeds 
of Momordica ‘cochinchinensis, Spreng. was undertaken with the 
view of ascertaining whether it might prove of commercial value. 
Lomordica cochinchinensis is a cucurbitaceous plant indige- 
nous to Bengal, Tenasserim, the Deccan Peninsula, Formosa, 
and the Philippine Taaeaa: "The seeds are described by Hooker 
(Flora of British India, II. p. 618), as ‘‘4 by & by 41n. thick, 
many, horizontal, irregular, ovate, compressed, black, corru- 
gated on the margins, sculptured on the faces.”’ 
Very little information has been published concerning the fat 
of these seeds. In the Pharmacographia Indicat the einer 
pencesh gesatiaation of the seed-coats and kernels has been 
made by Greenish and Baines, with the following results :— 
The average weight of each seed was 3-13 grammes, of which 
a seed coat weighed 36-7 per cent., and the kernels 63°3 per 
A.—Seed-coats. 
The powdered seed-coats were extracted successively with dif- 
ferent solvents; the solvent evaporated, and the residue dried at 
100° C. 
Per cent. of Per cent. of 
seed-coat. 8 
I. Sega spirit extract ie 0°38 fie 0°12 
2. Ether extract wa a 0-16 ee 0:06 
3. Cilccofsrm exttact yee é 0°44 oe 0°16 
4. Alcohol extract oe vee 1:62 zi 0°59 
No alkaloid was found in any of the residues. 
_ * See Pharmaceutical Journal and Pharmacist, Jan. 17, 1920, pp. 43-44. 
+ ee Indica, ii, p. 77. 
