SEED OILS 143 



oil. It is used medicinally by the people of India and many 

 writers recommend it as worthy of investigation.* 



Hefter f says that the yield of oil is 20 to 24 per cent. 



Genus RICINUS 

 RICINUS COMMUNIS L. (Fig. 49). Tangan-tangan or Castor-OIL 



PLANT. 



Local names: Katana (Batanes Islands); lansina (Batangas) ; talam- 

 punai (Laguna) ; tangan-tangan (Ilocos Norte and Sur, Abra, Cagayan. 

 Pangasinan, Pampanga, Zambales, Bataan, Bulacan, Rizal, Manila, Laguna, 

 Tayabas, Camarines, Albay, Sorsogon, Masbate, Capiz, Misamis, Cuyo 

 Islands); tau-ua-tau-ud (Ilocos Norte, Bontoc, Pangasinan). 



CASTOR OIL 



This plant, the source of the castor oil of commerce, grows 

 wild in all parts of the Philippines, but the seeds are said to 

 be very poor in oil. According to the Bureau of Agriculture, 

 only imported seeds of improved varieties should be planted. 



Castor oil is used medicinally as a purgative. It is also used 

 in the manufacture of Turkey-red oils and in making soap. It 

 is employed as a lubricant, as a preservative of leather, and 

 for other purposes. Recently the demand for castor oil has in- 

 creased owing to the fact that it is used as a lubricant for air- 

 plane engines. 



Bottler and Sabin J state : 



Castor-oil is used as an ingredient for "artificial skin" varnishes, such 

 as one composed of shellac 1 part, alcohol 3 parts, castor-oil b part; 

 or anothei, 8 parts collodion to 1 part castor-oil; it is also used in retouch- 

 ing-varnishes and negative varnishes in photography. 



To give elasticity to spirit varnishes, it is thinned with alcohol to the 

 consistency of the varnish, and added to it. 



Castor oil is colorless or slightly greenish. Commercially it is 

 manufactured by expression or extraction. The best quality, 

 which is used for medicinal purposes, can only be prepared by 

 expression in the cold, as the poisonous alkaloid, ricine, does not 

 pass into the oil under these conditions. The expressed oil cake 

 contains the poisonous alkaloid and is unfit for use as cattle 

 food. It is serviceable, however, as an excellent fertilizer. 



Scherubel § discusses the cultivation, harvest, and extraction 



* Watt, G., Dictionary of the economic products of India, Volume 5 

 (1891), page 122. 



t Hefter, G., Technologie der Fette und Ole (1908). 



t Bottler, M., and Sabin, A. H., German and American varnish making, 

 page 48. 



§ Scherubel, E., Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Victoria, 

 Volume 16 (1918), page 505. 



