THE FIXED OILS OF CEYLON. 



By ALFRED LEWIS, F.L.S. 

 Late Conservator of Forests, Ceylon. 



THE natural oils of Ceylon may be classed under two 

 heads Fixed and Essential both of which are obtained 

 from trees and plants common to, or introduced into, 

 the Island. So far, no mineral oils have been obtained. 



Of the vegetable oils we have two classes, viz. (a) 

 those used by the rural inhabitants for domestic pur- 

 poses confined to home use, either medicinal or other- 

 wise, and (b) those entering into commercial use or 

 trade. Of the former, with a few exceptions, the quantity 

 is generally restricted to the specific wants that call 

 them into use, so that while the source of supply is not 

 specially limited, the demand is. It may therefore be 

 desirable to refer to this section as oils of minor import- 

 ance, leaving all the others under the head of commercial 

 fixed oils. 



Section i. Fixed Oils of Minor Importance. 



(1) Trichadcnia seylanica, Thw. (1855) (" Tolol," or 

 " Thitta-etta," Sing.). The oil from this rather scarce 

 wet-zone tree, is obtained by first bruising the seeds by 

 pounding them, and then compressing the meal so 

 obtained in a rough lever-press, acting on the envelope 

 containing the crushed seeds. A small quantity of thick 

 oil is thus obtained and used for skin diseases. It is 

 supposed to be efficacious in forms of ecthyma. 



(2) Plydno carpus venenata, Gaertn. (1788) (" Makulu," 

 Sing.). An oil is obtained from the seed of this plant 

 that is alleged by the natives to be of use in leprosy. 

 Little is known of the method of obtaining the oil, but 

 it is believed to be by first crushing the seeds and then 

 boiling, the oil being skimmed off after. 



The " Makulu " tree is fairly abundant in Ceylon as 



