BLACK CUMIN 



OILS 



OIL-SEEDS 



tti's iii supersession of the hookah (or water-pipe) still commonly 

 used by the people. Acting on tin* ulea they imported * in 



.ising quantity at rates brini/ini.' them within the reach of the masses, 

 iiml in a very short time the arrangements made for bringing the cigarettes 

 within easy reach of the COHMUIHT had a very manifest effect. At the 

 present moment the value of the cigarettes imported is about 150,000 a 

 year, and allowing for the proportion of better class cigarettes imported for 

 Europeans it is clear that the trade is already extensive. As yet, more- 

 it is practically confined to a few large towns, and is only beginning. 

 To say that it may increase tenfold is to use most moderate language. 

 Why should the supply of these things be allowed to come from abroad ? *' 

 Of the cigar trade in 1900-1 (60,157 lb.), 18,295 lb. came from Belgium ; 

 11,654 lb. from the Philippines ; 7,605 lb. from the Straits Settlements; 

 5,307 lb. from the United Kingdom ; and 4,777 lb. from China Hong- 

 kong. In 1906-7 (111,586 lb.), 38,420 lb. came from Belgium ; 28,448 lb. 

 ln>m China Hongkong; 21,759 lb. from Holland; 5,650 lb. from the 

 United Kingdom ; 2,992 lb. from the Straits Settlements ; and 450 lb. 

 from Natal, the supply having greatly decreased. 



NIGELLA SATIVA, Linn. : Prain, Beng. Plant*, 1903, i., 194. 

 RANUNCULACE.*:. The Small Fennel or Black Cumin, kdldjira, k<i 

 mugrela, karun-shiragam, nalla-jilakra, karijirigi, samon-ne, etc. A native 

 of Southern Europe, but extensively cultivated in India for its seeds. 



These contain two kinds of OIL, one dark-coloured, fragrant and volatile, 

 the other clear, nearly colourless, and of about the consistency of castor oil. 

 MEDICINALLY they are regarded as aromatic, carminative, stomachic and 

 digestive. By the Natives they are much used in curries, in vinegar (p. 1110), 

 and other dishes, and are frequently sprinkled over the surface of bread along 

 with sesamum seed. [Cf. Pharmacog. Ind., i., 28-9; Agri. Ledg., 1895, No. 10, 

 168, 171 ; 1896, No. 28, 271 ; 1899, No. 12, 150 ; Thorpe, Diet. Appl. Chem., 1899, 

 ii., 397 ; Gildemeister and Hoffmann, Volatile Oils, 1900, 352 : Dutt, Mat. Med. 

 Hitol., 1900, 102-3. (For the true Cumin, see pp. 442-3; black Caraway, p. 283.)] 



v., 428-9. 



Black 



Cumin. 



Oik. 



Medicine. 



VinagM. 



OILS, OIL-SEEDS, FATS, ETC., AND PERFUMERY. D.E.P., 

 The Oils and Fats may be classified by many systems depending v., 446-79. 

 upon their chemical, physical and industrial properties and uses. Or Oils and 

 they may be grouped according as they are derived from the animal, O 11 ' 8 *" 8 - 

 vegetable or mineral kingdoms. Some are spoken of as fixed, others 

 as essential, edible, medicinal, drying, non-drying, etc., or again as illu- 

 minants, lubricants or as suitable for candle-making, soap-making or 

 perfumery. Blount and Bloxam (Chem. for Engin. and Manuf., etc., 1900, 

 ii., 223) observe that fats, tallows, waxes, etc., are chemically of the same 

 nature as the substances popularly designated oils. They are character- 

 ised by their unctuousness, by their insolubility in water, and by their 

 solubility in ether, benzene, carbon bisulphide, and by their leaving a 

 greasy stain on paper, which does not disappear by evaporation. Chemi- 

 cally they are ethereal salts of fatty acids, the alcohol radicle of the salt 

 being glycerine (glyceryl), except in certain waxes where radicles of higher 

 alcohols occur. Popularly, however, fats are viewed as distinct from oils, 

 but it serves no good purpose to separate them. 



811 



