72 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



Cocoanut Oil. The ripe kernels of the Cocoanut are removed 

 from the seeds, dried in the sun, the resulting product being known 

 as " copra." This is then shipped to Europe and other countries 

 and a fixed oil is obtained either by extraction or pressure, using a 

 hydraulic press. Cocoanut oil at ordinary temperatures is of the 

 consistence of lard, is colored white or pearl-white and has a peculiar 

 odor and taste. The unrefined oil readily becomes rancid and 

 acquires a very disagreeable flavor and taste. It closely resembles 

 palm-nut oil in its chemical composition, with the exception of the 

 relative proportion of palmitic acid. Cocoanut oil may be regarded 

 as the one edible oil which approximates in constitution ordinary 

 butter. 



Cocoanut Shells. The endocarp of the fruit, while used as a 

 household article by the natives, is to some extent ground up and 

 used extensively as an adulterant of powdered foods and drugs. 

 The presence of cocoanut shells may be detected by their yellow stone 

 cells, which have thick yellow walls with branching pores and dark- 

 brown contents. The stone cells vary from polygonal and isodia- 

 metric shape, to cylindrical and wedge-shaped forms that are quite 

 characteristic. In addition there occur fragments of long thick- 

 walled, porous fibers with accompanying stegmatic cells, each con- 

 taining a spheroidal, tuberculated silicious granule. The dark- 

 brown fragments in the powder are not affected by bleaching agents, 

 such as Schulze's macerating solution. 



Double Cocoanut. The fruit of Lodoicea sechellarum, a palm 

 growing in some of the Seychelles Islands. It is the largest sized 

 fruit growing on shrubs or trees, being about 3 dm. in length, nearly 

 3 dm. in width and about 1.5 dm. in thickness. It is shaped like a 

 beef-kidney, consisting of two symmetrical halves joined at the upper 

 portions. The outer surface is smooth, of a grayish-brown color and 

 marked by long longitudinal wrinkles. It consists of a very hard 

 shell from 4 to 6 mm. in thickness and encloses an edible endosperm 

 similar to that of the true cocoanut. Many fabulous stories have 

 had their inception in the double cocoanut and it is considered a sov- 

 ereign antidote in poisoning. 



Palm Oil. A fixed oil obtained from the fleshy part of the fruit 

 of Elseis guineensis, a palm of western Africa and cultivated in other 

 tropical countries. The oil has the consistency of butter, a reddish- 

 yellow color, an agreeable odor and a pleasant taste. It is chiefly 

 used for making soap and in the manufacture of galvanized iron, the 

 oil being spread over the hot iron surface to preserve it from oxidation 

 until it is dipped into the bath of melted tin. 



