﻿COMMERCIAL UTILIZATION OF SOME PHILIPPINE OIL- 

 BEAR1NG SEEDS: PRELIMINARY PAPER. 



By George F. Richmond and Mariano Vive.xcio del Rosario. 

 {From the Chemical Division, Bureau of Science, Manila. P. I.) 



INTRODUCTION'. 



The coconut is the best known and most widely distributed oil-pro- 

 ducing seed of all tropical or semitropical countries and it is the only 

 representative of its class that has assumed any commercial importance 

 in the Philippines. However, a number of wild or semicultivated plants 

 are found here which help to meet the local demand for vegetable oils, 

 in the various uses to which oils are usually applied. Many of these 

 oil seeds and nuts, or the oils which may be extracted therefrom, probably 

 would find a ready market for use in some form if they were produced 

 in commercial quantities and the uses for which they are best suited 

 determined; therefore, it appeared well worth the trouble to examine 

 a number of the local products and to begin extended investigations 

 on the best methods of their commercial utilization. As a careful study 

 of the properties of oils which are to compete with those already in use 

 is necessary, such a work obviously must be one which will occupy a 

 fairly long period of time. This paper will give a few preliminary 

 observations which later will be extended. 



The local use of a given commodity is not always that for which it 

 is best adapted. In the case of fatty oils, questions of expediency 

 rather than suitability usually govern their local application. Many 

 vegetable oils and fats are employed as food and for illumination, when 

 it is evident that they are much better suited for other purposes; 

 furthermore, the valuable therapeutic properties claimed for certain of 

 these products remains to be determined. 



VEGETABLE OILS. 

 PRINCIPAL USES. 



The following classification of oils, based on their leading practical 

 uses, is adopted from C. R. Alder Wright. 1 The first and most important 

 is alimental, including the expression or extraction of cooking fats and 

 oils, the addition of oils as food preservatives, and the manufacture of 



'Fixed Oils, Fats, Butters and Waxes, Loud. (1903), 3-">9. 



439 



