162 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



(fig. 143-150), from which an oil with powerful properties is ex- 

 tracted, still used in the country, which purges well even if the dose 

 is feeble, but it unfortunately sometimes causes violent vomit- 

 ing, which might occasion a serious accident. The seeds of 

 Ricinus employed for the extraction of a piu-gative oil are those 

 of a single species, Ricinus communis'^ (fig. 153-162); but it 

 has many forms and varieties, and above all are distinguished 

 two species of Ricinus of France or Europe,'- those of America,^ and 

 those of Africa or Senegal. The last are the least employed. Those 

 of France are the smallest, pale, and not very distinctly marbled. 

 Those of America, larger, marbled more distinctly, and darker, have 

 been for a long time imported into Europe. All yield the purgative 

 oil by ditferent processes, but principally by pressure when cold, or 

 at a teniperaturo of medium warmth. The oilcake is besides more 

 active for purging than the oil itself, sometimes totally void of acrid 

 principle, and, as we know, employed as an aliment or condiment in 

 certain countries. This oil is powerful ^. It is much less drying 

 than that of the large Pignon of India or J<droj)lia of Barbadoes ^ 

 (fig. 103-165), extracted fi'om a much larger, black, finely ru- 

 gose seed, covered all over with folds in the form of wrinkles, only 

 produced on the surface as the seed dries up. This oil, often rancid, 

 is very acrid and piu'ges energetically in a dose of ten drops. This 

 is again much surpassed by the small Pignon of India or the seeds of 

 the Cvoion Tiglium^ (fig. 196-202), whose general appearance re- 



iii. 98. — Gum. he. cit. 340, fig. 445. — Pereiha, and crystallizes in prisms. By dry distillation 



op. cit. 412. — Rev. in Bot. Mid. du XIX" Siecle, it gives wnanthylic acid, cenanthylic, aldehyde 



ii. 13. — RosENTH. ojK cit. 818. — Boiss. Prodr. and acrolein. Soubeiran admits they contain a 



99, n. 384. [Grande Caiapuce, Orandc Esii'e, special purgative principle which has till now 



Oiiioiiselt.) escaped chemists. The fact that the seeds 



1 Ricinus cmnmuiii.i L. (see p. 110, note 2). themselves are much more active than the 

 — Mfeii. et Del. Diet. Mat. Med. vi. 86. — extracted oil, here as in most other Eiiphor- 

 GviB. I c. cit. 350, fig. 450. — Rev. in Fl. Med. biacece, seems to be the proof. 



du XIX' Siech; iii. 214, ii. 21. — Pereiua, '" Jatropha Cureas L. Spec. ed. 1, 1006. — A. 



Elcm. Mat. Med. ed. 4, p. i. 416.— Lindl. Ft. Juss. Euphoib. t. 11, fig. 34 A. — Mek. et Del. 



Med. 183.— Caz. PI. Med. Iiidig. ed. 3, 914.— Diet. Mat. Med. iii. 674.— Gflii. he. cit. 354 



'kl. Alio. Prodi-. 1017. {PnlmaCliristi.Paime- fig. 454. — M. Aro. Prodr. 1076.— Cureas 



Dicii, Herbc a t'huile americaiiie, dc castor, di: piiri/aiis'MEn. Iiid. PI. Rort. Maiilicm. i. (1771), 



Kcrva.) 90. — Rosenth. op. cit. 828. — Pereira, op. 



2 GuiB. loe. cit. fig. 452. cit. 426.— C. indica Rich. Cub. iii. 288.— 

 ' GtJiR. loc. cit. fig. 451. Castiglioiia lobata, R. et Pav. Prodr. 139, t. 37. 

 * Thoy contain, it is said, ricinolic acid (Noix americaine, Figue d'ciifcr, Pignon de Bar- 



(C^'tL^O*) ; it is soluble in any proportion in baric.) 



absolute alcohol. The liciuine, which has been ^ L. S/>cc. 1004. — Guib. op. cit. ii. 357, fig. 



extracted, has been compared to the alkaloids, 456. — Mer. et Del. Diet. Mat. Med. ii. 477. 



