350 ON OLEAGINOUS PLANTS, 



We have run through a great variety of subjects to-day ; 

 the natural and artificial grasses, which form the two 

 great stores of food for cattle, and the latter of which en- 

 ters so beneficially into the rotation of cropping ; the tu- 

 berous roots of which both man and beast equally par- 

 take ; and, finally, the numerous species of grain, which 

 afford a more solid and wholesome nourishment than any 

 other kind of vegetable food. After such an abundant 

 store of sustenance, were I to prolong the subject further 

 I fear it would satiate your appetite, we will therefore re- 

 serve what remains to be said on vegetable food till our 

 next interview. 



CONVERSATION XXXI. 



ON OLEAGINOUS PLANTS, AND CULINARY VEGETABLES. 



Mrs. B. Among the articles of vegetable food, the 

 oils which are extracted from plants afford one of the most 

 valuable ; nor are they of less importance in affording us 

 light by their combustion. They are employed also in a 

 number of manufactures, such as soap, woollens, varnish- 

 es, and perfumery. 



There are, you know, two kinds of vegetable oil, dis- 

 tinguished by the name of fixed and volatile. The latter 

 may be extracted from almost every plant ; but it is used 

 only as a perfume, or to flavor liqueurs, such as the oil 

 called attar of roses, with which you are acquainted. 



Emily. Yes ; and with that of Jasmine and orange, so 

 commonly used to perfume pomatum. In a word, the 

 perfumer's shop abounds with these sweet-scented oils. 



Mrs. B. They constitute the luxury of the sense of 

 smelling, but are frequently prejudicial from their effect 

 on the nerves ; and some few of them are employed med- 

 icinally. But the essential or volatile oils are not those 

 most deserving our attention : the fixed oils are of much 

 higher importance, and are extracted from a class of plants, 

 hence called oleaginous. The oil is expressed from the 

 seed of all these plants excepting the olive, in which it is 

 obtained from the pericarp, or fleshy part of the fruit which 

 surrounds the seed. 



1900. For what purpose are the oils of vegetables used, besides food! 

 1901. What are the two kinds of oil 1 ? 1902. What is said of the 

 use and importance of volatile oils 7 1903. And of the fixed oils'! 



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