N. 0. SAPINDAOE.E. oD\) 



In the Nilgiris the oil is used for anointing the body. The medicinal 

 effects are variously reported as purgative (in the United Provinces) and as 

 prophylactic against cholera (in Thana division, Bombay). It is more usual 

 to apply it externally in massage for rheumatism (Bombay), for the cure of 

 headache (Sambalpur, Central Provinces). Its application in Bombay, 

 Malabar, and Coorg is said to be effective in removing itch and other forms 

 of skin diseases, and this remedy is known to the wild forest tribes. The 

 powdered seeds are applied to ulcers of animals and for removing maggots. 



The seeds, 



The seeds are ovoid or rounded in shape, about five -eighths of an inch 

 long by half an inch broad, smooth, reddish-brown in colour, and marked with 

 an indented hilum at one end. One hundred seeds weigh 57 grains giving 

 an average weight of 87 grains per seed. On removing the brown, brittle 

 shell a dirty white kernel is disclosed with white markings on the testa. 

 One hundred parts of seeds afford 66 parts of kernels and 34 parts of shells. 

 The kernels extracted with ether or petroleum spirit yielded in the Calcutta 

 Indian Museum laboratory 61*4 per cent, of oil, showing that the entire seed 

 contains 40*5 per cent, of oil- 

 Mr. J. H. Walker of the Oil Department of the Gouripore Company, Naihati, 

 obtained a yield of 60*4 per cent, of a thick fixed oil from the kernels, which 

 is equivalent to 36*7 per cent, on the nuts. 



Composition of seeds and oil. 



The first analysis of the seeds appears to have been made by Dr. L. Van 

 Itallie [Apoth. Zeitung. (1889), 4°506], who separated about 36 per cent, of a 

 buttery fat, which he called the Macassar oil of commerce. It had a specific 

 gravity of 0*924 at 15° C, melted at 28° C., had an iodine number of 53, a 

 saponification equivalent of 219 (1 gram required 230 mgm. of potash for 

 saponification), contained 91 per cent, of insoluble fatty acids and 6*3 per 

 cent, of glycerol. The fatty acids present included acetic, butyric, lauric, 

 arachie and oleic acids. 



The next recorded analysis of Macassar oil is that of Dr. K. Trummel 

 [Apoth., Zeitung. (1889), 4*518]. The oil had a melting point of 21°-22° C. 

 The presence of hydrocyanic acid was detected and 0'47 per cent, obtained by 

 steam distillation. Benzaldehyde was detected in the distillate by its 

 transformation into benzoic acid by the action of potassium permanganate. 



Dr. Trummel in conjunction with Mr, Kivassick further investigated the 

 oil in 1891 (Pharm. Zeit. May 1891, 314), after confirming previous results the 

 authors separated the constituents of the oil. The fatty acids, with the 

 exception of 3*15 per cent, of free oleic acid, were present as glycerides. 

 Of these in combination 70 per cent, consisted of oleic acid, and of the 

 solid fatty acids 5 per cent, was palmitic and 25 per cent, arachie 

 acid, the characteristic acid of the ground-nut. Lauric acid was not 

 present, and of the volatile fat acids only acetic and no butyric acid 

 could be detected. Hydrocyanic was found in the oil and in the seeds, 

 being determined as 0*03 per cent, in the former and 0*62 per cent, in 



