426 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



as when full grown, I therefore conceive that it buries itself to 

 its greatest depth before seeds begin to enlarge, and while the 

 germ is only on obtuse point." 



Found all over the warm parts of Asia, In the Dekkan and 

 Concan. 



Parts used : — The nut and oil. 



Uses :—The oil may take the place of olive oil. " In Bombay 

 the oil is expressed at the Government Medical Store Depot 

 for pharmaceutical purposes, to the extent of about 6,000 lbs. 

 annually. It is used as a substitute for olive oil" (Dymock). 



" The experiments of Winter in the United States is that it is 

 well adapted for the preparation of cerates and ointments, but 

 that it would not serve as a substitute for olive oil in the prepar- 

 ation of lead plaster. Falicres found it to possess great aptitude 

 for the nitric solidification, hence he has recommended its use 

 in the preparation of Unguentum Hydrargyri Nitratis" (Bentley 

 and Trimen). " The unripe nuts are sweet and are given to 

 women whose supply of milk is insufficient for their children ; 

 the unripe nuts are less oily and, therefore, more easily digested" 

 (Subba Rao). 



Leather has shown that the Mauritius variety of ground-nut contains from 

 44 to 49 per cent, of oil, while the indigenous varieties contain only 40 to 44 

 per cent. Newer samples have more recently been imported and it has been 

 noticed that they are uniformly more rich in oil than the local kinds. These 

 figures refer to the proportion of oil in the kernels. The proportion by 

 weight of unhusked nuts to kernels is as 4 to 3. The bulk of the Indiau manu- 

 facture of the oil is in the hands of owners of native rotary mills. Mills of 

 the European pattern have been tried in South India, but they could not 

 compete with the crude native mills as the cake from the former was too dry 

 and powdery. Recently mills have been opened in Calcutta and elsewhere in 

 Bengal for the manufacture of the oil and have created a large import traffic 

 in the nuts. The nuts having been shelled the expression is carried out in 

 two stages. The first expression is carried out at the ordinary temperature, 

 and the cold drawn oil is nearly colourless, has a pleasant taste and is used 

 as a salad oil. The second expression is made at a temperature of 30° to 32° 

 and yields an oil suitable for edible purposes and for burning. Sometime a 

 third expression is made at a higher temperature and gives a turbid oil 

 suitable for soap making. Arachis cake contains the highest amount of 

 proteins of all known oil-cakes. That from non-decorticated nuts contains 5*35 

 per cent, of nitrogen and 0'9 per cent, of phosphoric acid, and that from the 

 kernels contains 7*9 per cent, of nitrogen and 135 per cent, of phos phoric acid. 



