REPORT OF THE MICROSCOPIST. 145 



and has a bland and agreeable peculiar taste; and the specific gravity, .923° at 15' C. 

 (59" F.). Near the freezing point of water it beconaes opaque, and congeals usually at 

 about —5° C. (23° F.), v/liile the oil extracted by solvents congeals at about 5° C. (41° 

 F.), forming a yellowish-white mass. It is a non-drying oil, and on exposure to air 

 does not readiiy turn rancid. Oil of benne is obtained by subjecting benne-seeds to 

 pressure. The yield is in the neighborhood of 50 per cent, of the weight of the 

 seeds. About 14,000 gallons of this oil were imported into the United States iu 1876 

 and 126,271 gallons in 1883. 



PEANUT OIL. 



This oil, so mucli used in the manufacture of oleomargarine, is thus 

 described by the same authority: 



It is prepared from Arachis hypogce, Linne (Bentley and Trimen Med. Plants, p. 

 75), an annual herb indigenous to tropical America, and now cultivated throughout 

 the tropics. It is known in Brazil as amendoim or mandobivi. The seeds contain 

 about 45 per cent, of oil. This is pale yellow, thin, has the density .920, and a pe- 

 culiar nutty flavor, becomes turbid at about 3° C. (37.4° F.), and congeals near — 5° C. 

 (23° F.). Nitrous acid causes the oil to congeal to a wliitisli mass; nitric acid colors 

 it reddish, and sulphuric acid grayish-yellow, then green-brown. It consists of the 

 giycerides of palmitic, arachic, and hypogceic acids. The latter crystallizes in 

 needles, which melt near 35° C. (95° F.) Under the name of katchung oil this oil is 

 largely used in India in the place of olive oil. 



BUTTER TESTS CORROBORATED. 



The lotva State Register, of the 9th of January, 1887, corroborates 

 these tests in the following words: 



The correctness of butter tests is a matter of interest to every citizen of Iowa, and 

 the course of the Government officials in this matter has been closely watched. The 

 result of the recent tests made in this city had a very beneficial effect upon public 

 sentiment, which will be emphasized by the knowledge that Dr. Field, of this city, 

 has made a careful microscopic test of the same samples and fully corroborates 

 every one. In conversation with a Register scribe yesterday, Mr. Schermerhorn 

 made the following statement of these last tests: " Iii view of the fact that the re- 

 liability of butter tests have been brought into question, I desire to state that I fur- 

 nished to Dr. A. G. Field, of this city, eight packages of butter and mixtures for 

 microscopical testing. They consisted of various mixtures of lard, salt, butter, but- 

 terine, and also pure butter of various ages and modes of manufacture. With the 

 exception of one package of genuine butter four years old they all had the ap- 

 pearance of good butter. They were numbered and the composition of each re- 

 corded, but of which Dr. Field knew nothing before making the examination. In 

 every case his report was correct. He stated that he followed the method of Dr. 

 Thomas Taylor, of Washington, D. C., relying principally upon the form of crystal 

 and the use of polarized light. 



THOMAS TAYLOR, 



Microscopist. 

 Hon. Norman J. Colmam, 



Commissioner. 



10 AG.— '86 



