SEMEN RICINI. 571 



duced in India, where two varieties of the seeds, the large and the small, 

 are distinguished, the latter being considered to yield the better pro- 

 duct. In manufacturing the oil, the seeds are gently crushed between 

 i-ollers, and freed by hand from husks and unsound grains. At Calcutta, 

 100 parts of seed yield on an average 70 parts of cleaned kernels, which 

 by the hydraulic press afford 4G to 51 per cent, of their weight of oil; 

 the oil is afterwards subjected to a very imperfect process of purifica- 

 tion by heating it with water.^ 



The exports of castor oil from Calcutta- in the year 1870-71 

 amounted to G54,917 gallons, of which 214,959 gallons were shipped to 

 the United Kingdom. The total imports of castor oil into the United 

 Kingdom^ in the year 1870 were returned as 36,986 cwt. (about 416,000 

 gallons), valued at £82,490. Of this quantity, British India (chiefly 

 Bengal) furnished about two-thirds; and Italy 11,856 cwt. (about 

 133,000 gallons), while a small remainder is entered as from "other 

 parts." In 1876 the imports were 79,677 cwt., valued at £133,838. 



Italian Castor Oil, which has of late risen into some celebrity, is 

 pressed from the seed of plants grown chiefly about Verona and Legnago, 

 in the north of Italy. The manufactory of Mr. Bellino Valeri at the 

 latter town produced in the year 1873, 1200 quintals of castor oil, 

 entirely from Italian seed. Two varieties of JRicinus are cultivated in 

 these localities, the black-seeded Egyptian and the red-seeded American; 

 the latter yields the larger percentage, but the oil is not so pale in 

 colour. The seeds are very carefully deprived of their integuments, 

 and having been crushed, are submitted to pressure in powerful 

 hydraulic presses, placed in a room which in winter is heated to about 

 21' C. The outflow of oil is further promoted by plates of iron warmed 

 to 32-38" C. being placed between the press-bags. The peeled seeds 

 yield about 40 per cent, of oil.^ 



All the castor oil pressed in Italy is not pressed from Italian seed. 

 By an official return' it appears that in the year 1872-73 there were 

 exported from Bombay to Genoa 1350 cwt. of castor oil seeds, besides 

 2452 gallons of castor oil. There are no data to show what was ex- 

 ported from the other presidencies of India in that year. 



Uses — Castor oil is much valued as a mild and safe pui'gative; while 

 the commoner qualities are used in soap-making, and in India for burning 

 in Ijimps. The seeds are not now administered. The leaves of the 

 plant applied in decoction to the breasts of women are said to promote 

 or even to occasion the secretion of milk. This property, which has 

 long been known to the inhabitants of the Cape Verd Islands,^ was par- 

 ticularly observed by Dr. M'William about the year 1850. It has even 

 been found that the galactagogue powers of the plant ai-e exerted when 

 the leaves are administered internally. 



^ Madras Exhihitlon of Raw Products, etc. 'Annual Statement of (he Trade and 



of Southern India, — Reports by the Juries, Navigation of the Presidency of Bombay for 



Madras, 1856. 28. 1872-73, part ii. 87. 88. 



'^Annual Volume of Trade and Naviga- ^Frezier, V oif age to the South Seas, "Lond. 



tionfor the Bengal Presidency for 1870-71, 1717. p. 13. — Turner iu his Herbal (1568) 



Calcutta, 1871. 119. gives the plant an opposite character, for 



^Annual Statement of the Trade, etc. of the bruised leaves, says he, "swage the 



(he U.K. for 1870. — No later returns. brestes or pappes swellinge wyth to muche 



*H. Groves, Pharm. Journ. viiL (1867) plenty of milke. " 

 250. 



