524 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL RI8T. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIV. 



Palm, for there is scarcely any part of the plant which cannot be 

 applied more or less to some use by the inhabitants of tropical 

 climates. 



" Milk." — The nut yields an abundance of a delicious, cooling 

 beverage, to which Madeira wine, brandy, etc., is sometimes added. 

 The water, beautifully clear, has a sweetness, with a slight degree 

 of astringency, which renders it very agreeable. This " milk" has 

 been erroneously considered as injurious, producing a predisposi- 

 tion to dropsical complaints, and among the Tahitians as one of the 

 exciting causes of fefe, or elephantiasis. This applies, in all pro- 

 bability, to the ripe nut, at which stage the water is unwholesome, 

 and can be drunk only sparingly, as it is strongly diuretic and is 

 apt to produce an irritation of the bladder and urethra. The milk 

 of young nuts, on the contrary, is harmless. "I have," says 

 Bennet, " adopted this cooling beverage during my frequent and 

 long visits to intertropical countries, and have always found it the 

 most cooling and refreshing beverage during my excursions : but 

 when an immoderate quantity is drunk, I have known a slight 

 degree of strangury produced by it. The ladies, however, who may 

 fear taking it internally, are informed that to the water of the 

 green coco-nut is ascribed that inestimable property to them, of 

 clearing the face of all wrinkles and imperfections whatever, and 

 imparting to it the rosy tints of youthful days." The water is 

 used by house-plasterers in preparing a fine whitewash, also in 

 making the best and purest castor-oil, a certain portion of it being 

 mixed with the water in which the seeds are boiled. W. v. 

 Loewenich made the following analysis of the liquid albumen of the 

 coco-nut : — 



Water 900-88 



Sugar 4-43 



Gum 17-67 



Extractive matters (fat) ... 28-29 



Salts soluble in alcohol ... ... 5-44 



Salts not soluble in alcohol ... 6-29 



Meat. — From experiments conducted by Kirkwood and Gies 

 it was found that the fresh meat contains 35 — 40 per cent, of 

 oil, 10 per cent, of carbohydrate, only 3 per cent, of proteid, 

 1 per cent, of inorganic matter, and near 50 per cent, of 

 water. The albumen in the young nut is very delicate, easily 

 removed from the shell with a spoon, and may very well 

 be named a vegetable blancmange ; in this state it is called Niaa by 

 the Tahitians, who use it, as well as the natives of other of the 

 Polynesian Islands, in several made dishes. After the fruit is 

 suffered to remain a short time longer, and the albumen becomes 



