81 



ACID. 



RICINUS COMMUNIS. 



82 





it has varied from 269,314 cwts. (in 1845) to 1,744,913 cwte. (in 1853). 

 This wu for home mxtumption ; there has generally been a still larger 

 quantity imported simply for re-exportation, insomuch that the total 

 import for 1858 was more than 3,600,000 cwts. This is rice, " not in 

 the husk," to use a Customs' phrase. Rice in the husk, or paddy, is 

 entered separately. Before the year 1S42, cleaned rice paid a duty of 

 1*. per cwt. if from our own possessions, and 15*. if foreign. Since 

 that year the duty on colonial and Indian rice has been lowered from 

 1*. to 4ld. ; and on foreign from 15*. to 4Jcf. The lowering of the duty 

 has been followed by a rapid increase of consumption. Paddy pays a 

 lower duty than cleaned rice. 



KI( IN'KLAIpIC ACID (C M H 3 ,O e ), Palmie Acid. When ricine- 

 laidin a saponified with boiling potash lye, the soap subsequently 

 precipitated with salt, and then decomposed by hydrochloric acid, 

 ricmehidic acid separates as an oily body, that solidifies on cooling to 

 a crystalline mass, which may be purified by repeated crystallisation 

 from alcohol. It presents the appearance of silky needles, which 

 redden litmus and are soluble in all proportions in alcohol and ether. 



KH INKI.AIDIN iC^H-.O,.), Palmin. A product of the action of 

 hyponitric acid upon castor oil. It is a wax-like body with an odour 

 >> hydride of o?nanthyl. It is very soluble in alcohol and ether. 



UrlNuI.AMIDE (C M H M \0.). A colourless, crystalline, fusible 

 substance, produced by acting upon castor oil with ammonia. Mineral 

 acid* decompose it in the cold, setting ricinolic acid at liberty. 



Kit INOI.K- .M-lli IC^H..".), ElaMicAcid. The liquid fatty 

 acid obtained by saponifying castor oil. It is soluble in all proportions 

 in alcohol and ether, reacts acid, and decomposes carbonates with 



i:H INCS COMMfXIS, the castor-oil plant, known from very 

 ancient time* both to the Egyptians and also to the Greeks. According 

 to Herodotus (ii. 94), the Egyptians called the oil of the tiUifyj.i-i'-n 

 (iAAuti/Tpu>) by the name Kilci (cfn). The Greeks also called it Onto* 

 (*porrr), a name bestowed by modern botanist* on a closely allied 

 genus of euphorbiaceous plants, one specie* of which yields the 

 purgative oil designated Croton oil, or Oleum Tiglii. The native 

 country of the Kiciniu communi* is unknown, though it is oonjectured 

 to be originally frum Barbary. Like all planU which hare been long 

 in cultivation, numerous varieties of it are met with, differing not only 

 in colour and the peculiar pruinose condition of the stem, but in 

 stature and duration. In warm countries it is ligneous and perennial ; 

 hi cold, annual and herbaceous. The entire plant is possessed of active 

 propertied, but the oil extracted from the seeds is only employed in 

 Europe : the ancients administered the seeds entire, but their variable 

 action, occasionally even producing fatal effects, led to their ^i*iirr, 

 and the oil is of comparatively recent introduction. The seeds, of 

 which three an found in each capsule, are about the size of a small 

 bean, obtuse at both ends, surface smooth, shining, and beautifully 

 marbled. The skin consists of three tunic* 1st, an outer brittle 

 pellicle ; 2nd, a hard testa i ilisfallns of two JU.imil.i- layern, the 

 external thick, dark brown, formal of transverse radiating cells ; the 

 internal thinner, paler, and formed of vertical cells ; 3rd, a membrane 

 investing the nucleus or kernel "The nucleus oonsisU of . ily 

 albumen, and an embryo, the cotyledon* of which are membranous or 

 foluceous." The outer shell is devoid of taste ; in the inner coat the 

 acrimony or active principle residn, according to IHerbach; while 

 other* i ssi it the embryo to be the seat of the purgative principle ; 

 and even Humboldt and Bancroft state that if thu part be excised, the 

 seed* may be eaten with impunity, or the oil thereafter expressed i* 

 a* mild a* olive-oil. Various procedure* have been adopted to extract 

 the oil, and then have much influence on ita qualities in respect of 

 colour, acridity, and freedom from rancidity : there are also effects 

 which remit from the greater or less maturity of the seed*, the 

 peculiar variety of the plant from which they have been obtained, and 

 the occasionally accidental, but more frequently intentional admixture 

 of other seeds, before the different procmxs of extraction have been 

 begun. Both in India and *mi>i whence the first supplies were 

 brought, much heat was employed, and during the application of thin 

 agent a volatile principle was either liberated, or more probably 

 fuinnJ, which was so irritating a* to require the workmen to protect 

 their face* by masks. Even in the present day some heat is used to 

 obtain what is termed the enU-dnum castor-oil, but it i* quite 

 unnecanvy, and should always be avoided. 



Awarding to Sir Whhelaw Ainslie (' Xateria Indica,' vol. i. p. 25C), 

 the following is the plan pursued in the East Indies : " Take five 

 wen of the small castor-oil nut*, and soak them for one night in cold 

 water ; next morning strain this water off and throw it away, and put 

 the not* into a second quantity of fresh water, and boil them in it for 

 two hours ; after which strain the water off and throw it away, as in 

 the first instance : the nuts then are to be dried in the sun on a mat 

 for three days ; st the end of wliich time they are. to be well bruised 

 in a mortar : add to the nuts thus bruised ten measures of water, and 

 et the whole on the fire to boil, t-iking care to keep continually stirring 

 the contents of the pot until all the oil appear* at the top, when it U 

 to b* carefully strained off and bottled for use. The quantity of nuts 

 mentioned in thi* formula ought to yield about one quart bottle of 

 The processes used in the United State* and the West In.!;.- 

 -ctionable, from employing not only heat but water, which 

 last promote* the rancidity of the oiL The acrid property and the 



ARTS A.VD SCL D1V. Vol.. \ rl. 



rancidity are owing to different causes, the former being always in 

 proportion to the freshness of the oil, the latter to the imperfection of 

 the means used in extracting it, or to its age. The plan adopted in 

 France is the best ; it is as follows : The fresh seeds are braised, and 

 then put into a cold press (some persona improperly heat the plates of 

 the press). The oil expressed is allowed to stand some time to permit 

 the albumen, mucilage, and other matters to subside, or it is filtered to 

 separate them more rapidly. ('Journal de Pharinacie,' torn. v. pp. 

 207, 508.) The produce is equal to about a third of the seeds 

 employed, and the oil possesses all its natural qualities. The American 

 process yields only 25 per cent, of oil. In the French West Indian 

 Islands, a peculiar 'variety of llicinus, called Jt. ruler, more active, ia 

 used, which yields an oil called curapat, or karahat, but this is violent 

 and unpleasant, and must not be confounded with or substituted for * 

 the fine oil procured in France. Both the French and Italian oils are 

 much weaker than oil procured from tropical countries. Another 

 mode of obtaining the oil is to macerate the bruised seeds in cold 

 alcohol, by which six ounces of oil are procured from every pound of 

 seeds. ('Journal de Pharmacie,' viii. 475.) The expense of this 

 process is the objection to its general employment. 



Oil of good quality is a thickish fluid, of a very pale yellow colour 

 (the best now almost limpid), with a slightly nauseous odour, and an 

 oily taste, mild at first, but causing a feeling in the back of the throat 

 which ia more or less intense in proportion to the freshness of the 

 specimen. Old or badly prepared oil is rancid and disagreeable. The 

 specific gravity is, at 55 Fahr., 0-969, according to Saussure, but 

 according to Geiger it is only 0-954. 



It can be solidified only by a very low temperature. It is distin- 

 guished among fixed oils by ita complete or nearly complete solubility 

 in pure sulphuric tether and in alcohol, thereby approaching the 

 essential oils in it* habitudes, and its easy combination with alkaline 

 leys, and consequently it* ready eaponification, two properties of much 

 importance, the one furnishing a convenient test of ita purity, the 

 other facilitating it* administration in a form less repulsive than its 

 ordinary state. Its purity may be tested by mixing it with an equal 

 quantity of absolute alcohol, in which it should be entirely dissolved ; 

 the adulterating oil, if there be any, will remain undisaolved. Ita 

 ultimate composition seems to be 



SIUMOTO. Urc. 



Carbon .... 74-17* 74-00 



Hjdrocen . . . . 11-034 10-29 



Oxygen .... 14-788 li-71 



100-000 



1 1 



It thus appears to be one of the most highly oxygenated oils or fats, 

 notwithstanding which, on exposure to the air, it very readily absorbs 

 more oxygen, and quickly becomes rancid ; it is however slow of 

 drying. It is stated to consist of several proximate principles, but 

 whether then are educta or products is uncertain. Hussy and Lecanu, 

 who have paid great attention to the subject (' Journal de Pharmacie,' 

 xiii. 57) incline to the latter opinion, which is the most probable. 

 "This oil," they state, "cannot be regarded, as a simple immediate 

 principle, but as a compound organic product resulting from the 

 mixture of at leant two different substances.'' The other view is that 

 it is a compound of three fatty acidt saturated hy glycerin, for in the 

 process of saponification 100 parts of castor-oil yielded 



1. Fatty acids (rl*., rkinlc, elaiudir, and marparitic acidi) . 

 S. Olyctrin 



91 



102 



Saalmuler admit* only two fat acid* and a little acrid resin. These 

 add* are formed during saponification from Ricin-oleine and Margari- 

 tine. 



The only analysis of the seeds is that of Geiger (' Handbuch der 

 Pharmacie/ ii p. 1671). 



100-00 



I-'..r further details respecting the chemistry of castor-oil, see 

 Pereira's ' Mat. Med.,' ii. p. 1287, edit, of 1850. 



Castor-oil is a mild aperient or laxative when pure, operating 

 ithoiit griping or other inconvenience, and commonly very soon after 

 it* administration. It is the most proper laxative fur infants, and in 

 many inflammatory states of the abdomen or of the kidneys, bladder, 

 '.-. It is also one of the best purgatives in rheumatism, especially iu 

 lumbago, and one of the best means of relieving habitual constipation, 

 in, unlike other purgatives, tho dose may be eucct-sivi-ly reduced 

 without itd power being impaired. It U also a most eligible medicine 



u 



