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muskroot; rootstocks or underground stems furnish the 

 oils of calamus, ginger, orris-root, and wild ginger; herbage 

 is the source of the oils of pennyroyal, tansy, spearmint, 

 and peppermint; wood furnishes the material to make the 

 oils of red-cedar wood and sandalwood; bark is the source 

 of the oils of birch, cinnamon, and sassafras; leaves yield 

 the oils of hemlock, spruce, pine, cedar, eucalyptus, and 

 wintergreen; flowers yield the oils of cloves, lilac-flower, 

 and orange flowers; fruits yield the oils of pepper, lemon, 

 caraway, and fennel; seeds furnish the oils of mustard, 

 wormseed, nutmeg, and almonds; while resins give us the 

 oils of elemi, mastic, myrrh, and frankincense. 



The fixed oils, at least from a commercial standpoint, 

 are less numerous than the volatile oils, and those in com- 

 mon use are mostly derived from the fruits and seeds of 

 plants; for example, olive-oil is contained in the fruit of 

 the olive, linseed-oil is contained in the seed of the flax 

 plant, castor-oil is stored up in the seed of the castor-oil 

 plant, and cotton-oil abounds in the cotton seed. The 

 castor-oil seed or "bean" consists, to the extent of about 

 half its weight, of a fat or fixed oil. The ripe seeds are 

 coarsely broken, and the shells, weighing about one third, 

 are separated. The kernel is then pressed, and the oil 

 squeezed out. By using heat a larger amount of oil is 

 obtained, but the heat partly decomposes it, setting free 

 ricinoleic acid, the result being a discoloration, a bad odor 

 and taste, and a griping action. For this reason, it should 

 be "cold-pressed" for medicinal purposes. In the in- 

 testines, partial decomposition of the oil occurs, whence 

 results the purgative action. Perfectly fresh, cold-drawn 

 castor-oil may have no disagreeable odor or taste, and has 

 been used on bread, as a substitute for butter. The pulp 

 remaining after the removal of the oil contains the very 

 powerfully poisonous albuminoid, ricin. It is owing to 

 this substance that castor-oil seeds are poisonous. About 

 one fifth of the weight of cotton seed consists of a fat or 

 fixed oil, the finer grades of which are largely used for 



