CASTOR OIL. 543 



plains or the coldest part of the mountains. The seed should be 

 planted in the tropics in September, singly, and at the distance of 

 10 or twelve feet apart. They will bear the first season, and con- 

 tinue to yield for years. When the seed-pods become brown, they 

 are in a fit state to pluck. It is often grown in the East inter- 

 mixed with other crops. The primitive mode of obtaining the oil 

 is to separate the seeds from the husks, and bruise them by tying 

 them up in a grass mat. In this state they are put into a boiler 

 amongst water, and boiled until all the oil is separated, which 

 floats at the top, and the refuse sinks to the bottom ; it is then 

 skimmed off, and put away for use. The purest oil is obtained, 

 as before-mentioned, by crushing the seeds (which are sewed up 

 in horse-hair bags), by the action of heavy iron beaters. The oil, 

 as it oozes out, is caught in troughs, and conveyed to receivers, 

 whence it is bottled for use. 



Castor oil is used for lamps in the East Indies, and the Chinese 

 have some mode of depriving it of its medicinal properties, so as 

 to render it suitable for culinary purposes. 



That which we import from the East Indies comes from Bombay 

 and Calcutta, and is obtained at a very low price. It is exceed- 

 ingly pure, both in color and taste. 



In the West Indies the shrub grows about six feet high. The 

 stalks are jointed, and the branches covered with leaves about 

 eighteen inches in circumference, forming eight or ten sharp- 

 pointed divisions, of a bluish green color, spreading out in different 

 directions. The flowers contain yellow stamina ; the seed is en- 

 closed in a triangular husk, of a dark brown color, and covered 

 with a light fur, of the same color as the husk. When the capsule 

 is thoroughly ripened by the sun, it bursts, and expels the seeds, 

 which are usually three in number. 



In Jamaica this plant is of such speedy growth, that in one year 

 it arrives at maturity, and I have known it to attain to the height 

 of twenty feet. A gallon of the seed yields by expression about 

 two pounds of oil. 



The wholesale price in Liverpool, in October, 1853, was 3d. to 

 5d. per Ib. 



It is brought over from the East Indies in small tin cases, sol- 

 dered together and packed in boxes, weighing about 2 cwt. each. 



In Ceylon castor oil is obtained from two varieties of the plant, 

 the white and the red. 



The native mode of preparing the oil is by roasting the seed ; 

 this imparts an acridity to the oil, which is objectionable. By 

 attending to the following directions, the oil may be prepared in 

 the purest and best form. The modes of preparation are 1. By 

 boiling in water. 2. By expression. 3. Extraction by alcohol. In 

 the first the seeds are slightly roasted to coagulate the albumen, 

 cleaned of the integuments, bruised in a mortar, afoid the paste 

 boiled in pure water. The oil which rises on the surface is re- 

 moved, and treated with an additional quantity of fresh water ; 

 10,000 parts of clean seed give by this process (in Jamaica) 3,250 



