162 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



(fig. 143-150), from which an oil with powerful properties is ex- 

 tracted, still used in the country, which purges well even if the dose 

 is feeble, but it unfortunately sometimes causes violent vomit- 

 ing, which might occasion a serious accident. The seeds of 

 Ricinus employed for the extraction of a purgative oil are those 

 of a single species, Ricinus communis^ (fig. 153-162); but it 

 has many forms and varieties, and above all are distinguished 

 two species of Ricinus of France or Europe,^ those of America,^ and 

 those" of Africa or Senegal. The last are the least employed. Those 

 of France are the smallest, pale, and not very distinctly marbled. 

 Those of America, larger, marbled more distinctly, and darker, have 

 been for a long time imported into Europe. All yield the purgative 

 oil by different processes, but principally by pressure when cold, or 

 at a temperature of medium warmth. The oUcake is besides more 

 active for purging than the oil itself, sometimes totally void of acrid 

 principle, and, as we know, employed as an aliment or condiment in 

 certain countries. This oil is powerful*. It is much less drying 

 than that of the large Pignon of India or Jatropha of Barbadoes ^ 

 (fig. 163-165), extracted from a much larger, black, finely ru- 

 gose seed, covered all over with folds in the form of wrinkles, only 

 produced on the surface as the seed dries up. This oil, often rancid, 

 is very acrid and purges energetically in a dose of ten drops. This 

 is again much surpassed by the small Pignon of India or the seeds of 

 the Croton Tiglium^ (fig. 196-202), whose general appearance re- 



iii. 98. — GuiB. loc. eit. 340, fig. 445. — Eebeira, and crystallizes in prisms. By dry distillation 



op. cit. 412. — ^Kev. in JBot. MM. du XIX' Steele, it gives oenanthylio acid, oenanthylic, aldehyde 



ii. 13. — EosENTH. op. cit. 818. — Boiss. Prodr. and acrolein. Soubeiran admits they contain a 



99, n. 384. {Grande Catapuce, Qrande EsuU, special pvirgative principle -wliich has till now 



Ginousele.) escaped chemists. The fact that the seeds 



1 Eicinus cmnmmiis L. (see p. 110, note 2). themselves are much more active than the 

 — MfeR. et Del. Diet. Mat. Med. vi. 86. — extracted oil, here as in most other Euphor- 

 GruiB. lic. cit. 350, fig. 450. — E.EV. in Fl. M4d. biaceie, seems to be the proof. 



du XIX» Siecle, Hi. 214, ii. 21. — Pereiea, * Jatropha Oureas L. Spec. ed. 1, 1006. — ^A. 



Ekm. Mat. Med. ed. 4, p. i. 416. — Lindl. Fl. Jtrss. Euphorb. t. 11, fig. 34 A. — MfeR. et Del. 



Med. 183.— Caz. Fl. Med. Indig. ii.. 3, 914. — Diet. Mat. MSd. iii. 674. — GuiB. loc. eit. 354 



M. Aeo. Prodr. 1017. (Palma Christi, Paume- fig. 454. — M. Arg. Prodr. 1076. — Cureas 



Dieu, Merbe a fhuile am&icaine, de castor, de purgans M.bt>. Ind. PI. Sort. Manhem. i. (1771), 



Kerm.) 90. — Eosenth. op. cit. 828. — Pebeira, op. 



2 Gtjib. loc. cit. fig. 452. cit. 426.— P. indiea EiCH. Cui. iii. 288.— 

 ' GuiB. loc. cit. fig. 451. Castigliona lobata, E. et Pav. Prodr. 139, t. 37. 

 * They contain, it is said, rioinoUc acid {Noix americaine, Figm d'enfer, Pignon de Bar- 



(G'^H^O^) ; it is soluble in any proportion in barie.) 



absolute alcohol. The rieinine, which has been ^ L. Spec. 1004. — Gdib. op. cit. ii. 367, fig. 



extracted, has been compared to the alkaloids, 466. — M^r. et Dbl. Diet. Mat. MM. ii. 477. 



