344 The Philippine Journal of Science 



tained indicate that the pure esters consist almost entirely of 

 a mixture of the methyl esters of oleic and stearic acids and 

 that the saturated acids from which the esters were obtained 

 consist of stearic acid only. 



The percentage of saturated acids, separated by the lead-salt- 

 ether method, corrected for the unsaturated acids which they con- 

 tained, was 16.53 (Table 3) which is equivalent to 17.27 per 

 cent of stearic glyceride originally present in the oil. 



The residues obtained in distilling the methyl esters were 

 not taken into account in calculating the composition of the 

 saturated acids. In distilling the esters a slight decomposition 

 appeared to occur, and it would seem that data obtained by 

 analyzing the impure residues would not represent exactly the 

 properties of the pure esters. Possibly the residues contained 

 other esters in addition to those recorded ; but, considering the 

 temperatures and the manner in which the esters distilled, this 

 would seem to be unlikely. 



SUMMARY 



Cashew-nut oil is an edible oil which has good keeping qual- 

 ities and the following composition : 



Oleic glyceride gO.4 



Stearic glyceride 17,3 



Unsaponifiable matter 1.5 



Total ^ 



We wish to express our thanks and appreciation to Mr. Ar- 

 thur F. Fischer, director of the Philippine Bureau of Forestry, 

 for the material used in this investigation and the assistance 

 he has kindly given. 



