THE FORMATION OF OILS IN PLANTS 141 



The oil palm tree, which gives the palm kernel oil, more 

 frequently grows inland in open country and bush land, in 

 contradistinction to the coconut, which grows chiefly on 

 the sea border. Neither trees are commonly met with at any 

 considerable altitude. The rough method by which the 

 palm nuts are collected causes much injury to the kernels 

 and results in subsequent hydrolysis of the oil. The outer 

 layer of the fruit is removed for making palm oil, and the 

 nuts are shelled. In the rough preparation the kernels 

 are often fermented before pressing, which also causes the 

 same difficulty alluded to above in coconut oil. The rough 

 purification of this crude oil is often carried out by boiling 

 up with water. Palm oils not infrequently have as high 

 as one half of their total amount of fatty acids in the free 

 condition, accompanied, of course, by the corresponding 

 amount of free glycerine. In recent years the palm kernels 

 have been brought into Great Britain and have been pressed 

 in home machinery of modern type. The result has been 

 that much superior oils have been obtained, with far less 

 free fatty acids, and the resulting oil cakes have also been 

 superior. The oil is mostly used for soap, candles, and 

 margarine. Whilst many of the early makes of both cakes 

 were distinctly rancid, yet the modern cakes are relatively 

 free from this objection. Nevertheless, cattle do not take 

 kindly to either of these cakes at first. It is usually less 

 difficult to persuade cattle to eat coconut cake than palm- 

 nut cake. When coconut cake has been only slightly 

 pressed it is very apt to absorb moisture so readily as to break 

 itself up and burst the sacks in which it has been placed. 

 As much as 10 per cent, of water may easily be absorbed by 

 such cake when standing in ordinary barns on the farmstead. 

 As, however, this difficulty has become recognized, and as the 

 oil is very valuable, manufacturers are now usually taking 

 greater care to press the cakes more completely, and they 

 are thereby producing a bigger yield of oil and at the same 

 time a cake which, though it may look less satisfactory 

 on analysis, is more practically useful, because it does not 

 absorb water nor turn rancid on storage. Palm kernel 



