108 MAINE) AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I90O. 



NUT OILS. 



L. H. Merrill. 



In the summer of 1899 seventeen kinds of nuts were analyzed 

 at this Station. The results of these analyses, together with a 

 discussion of nuts as foods, were published in Bulletin 54. In 

 those cases* where the material at hand allowed, a sufficient 

 amount of oil was obtained to permit a determination of the fuel 

 value and a few other constants. Since several nut oils have 

 already found an extended use, a contribution to the knowledge 

 of those less known may prove of interest. 



The nut kernels were finely ground and the dried material 

 extracted with anhydrous ethyl ether. The solvent was removed 

 by heating the solution upon the steam bath for one hour, or 

 until the smell of ether had entirely disappeared, when the hot 

 oil was filtered into bottles. 



Several objections to this met'iod of extraction suggest them- 

 selves, chief among which may be mentioned: (a) A possible 

 failure to entirely remove the ether; (b) The oxidation of the 

 oils in the final heating; (c) The presence of ether-soluble for- 

 eign matters which were present in the nuts and passed through 

 into the oils. 



Some of these dangers might have been avoided by using 

 pressure instead of a solvent. But the use of pressure intro- 

 duces another difficulty. Each of these oils consists of a mix- 

 ture of from three to six or even more ethereal salts of widely 

 varying fluidity. For this reason extraction by pressure must 

 inevitably result in a partial separation of the oils, the less fluid 

 remaining behind. The pressure method was employed in but 

 one case, that of the cocoanut. It is interesting to note that in 

 this particular instance the resulting oil (6227) differed but 

 slightly from that obtained by ether from the same nut (6228). 

 If a solvent be used, ether seems as little objectionable as any, 

 since it is more readily removed from the extract than petroleum 

 ether, and the second danger mentioned, that of oxidation, is 

 materially reduced. As regards the third objection, the extrac- 

 tion of matters not oils, it should be said that so far as known 



