193 



XXXI. ON THE EXISTENCE OF OIL-GLOBULES AND CRYSTALS OF 



STEARINE IN THE CELLS COMPOSING THE ALBUMEN OF THE COCOA- 

 NUT. 



By Daniel Cooper, Assistant -Surgeon to the Forces, 



IT has been on several occasions a matter of some discussion among 

 chemists, bearing more particularly on the wording of patent specifica- 

 tions, as to whether the Elaine and Stearine in the copra, or prepared 

 cocoa-nut of commerce, which is imported in considerable quantities 

 from the East, for the purposes of expressing the oil for domestic and 

 other uses and the stearine for the manufacture of candles, existed in 

 separate states in the substance of the nut. Having been a short time 

 since consulted on this subject, I submitted a portion to microscopic in- 

 vestigation, with a view if possible to solve the question, The result 

 of the examination was most satisfactory : affording one out of many 

 valuable examples of the use of the microscope, as a means of solving 

 hitherto considered mysteries connected with some of the most impor- 

 tant of the Arts and Manufactures. It is well known, that when the 

 copra, (as it is termed in Ceylon) is subjected to pressure at a low tem- 

 perature, one of the principles of oily matter is obtained in a nearly 

 pure state, this is doubtless Elaine when, however, the pressure is ex- 

 erted, at a temperature of between 70 and 80 Fahrenheit, in addition 

 to the Elaine, there is obtained a quantity of Stearine and if the heat 

 be further increased, a still greater quantity of white matter is obtained, 

 from which Cocoa-nut candles are manufactured. 



At the suggestion of Mr. J. T. Cooper, who was professionally en- 

 gaged at the time on the chemical nature of oils, and who from the 

 above mentioned facts suggested in common,with Mr. Thomas Sturge, 

 the idea of the Stearine and Elaine existing as two separate sub- 

 stances in the albumen or fleshy part of the Cocoa-nut, I was induced 

 at their request to institute an examination of which the following is 

 an account. 



Having made thin sections of the copra with a sharp scalpel, and 

 placed them between two slips of glass with a little water, they were 

 examined with a quarter of an inch Achromatic object-glass. In the 

 interior of the elongated cells, of which the soft part of the nut is ex- 

 clusively formed, could be perceived very small globules apparently of 

 oil, scattered irregularly over their parietes, in addition to which there 



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