March 1, 1864.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



SOME ECONOMIC USES OP NUTS AND SEEDS. 341 



From their extreme hardness and pretty appearance the Hindoos and 

 others prize them for necklaces and other ornaments. In the Feejee 

 islands they are used for covering oracles and other sacred objects. 

 They form an article of food in Egypt, though considered hard and 

 indigestible. They are reduced to a fine powder by the native gold- 

 smiths, who use them in this state to increase adhesion in the more 

 delicate parts of manufactured ornaments. In Hindostan they are 

 known as the Retti weights. 



The larger seeds of the necklace tree of the West Indies (Ormosia 

 coccinea), of a brilliant red hue, with a black spot at one end, are now 

 beginning to be used for sleeve-links and shirt studs. The red Barricari 

 seeds of Eryihrina coralludendrum, a leguminous tree of the West Indies, 

 are also used for ornamental purposes. 



The grey bead-like seeds, known under the popular name of Job's 

 tears (JJoix lachryma), are the stony fruit of a graminaceous plant. They 

 are chiefly used in Catholic countries for rosaries, but in times of scarcity 

 they have served for food in some countries. Another species is used 

 in the Laos country of Asia to ornament dresses. 



The large, bony, shining, grey, nearly globose seeds, called Nicker 

 beans orBonduc nuts (Guilandina Bonducella), are used for bracelets and 

 rosaries, and are very ornamental when capped and set. They are some- 

 times called in this country Molucca beans. I have in my private col- 

 lection, baskets, bracelets, rosaries, and other fancy articles formed 

 of them, and ornaments made of the seeds are common in most 

 museums. In Barbadoes the plant is known as the horse nicker or 

 chick-stone. The medicinal properties of this seed are described in 

 vol. iii., p. 304. 



The Indians of Brazil put small stones into the empty nuts of 

 Ceriera Ahonai, with which they ornament their legs. The fruit is 

 a deadly poison. 



The small, round, black seeds of the Indian shot (Carina Indica), are 

 used by the Burmese for sacred beads, and by Hindoos for necklaces. It 

 is called in Guiana buck-shot, and the natives use them as shot. They 

 have also been employed as a substitute for coffee, and yield a purple 

 dye. Another round, black seed, of a larger size, is the kernel of the 

 fruit of Sapindus saponaria, Linn., and of S. emarginatus, Vahl., and 

 other species, which is much used now for rosaries, necklaces, bracelets, 

 and other ornaments. The nuts are exceedingly hard and tough, and 

 take a fine polish. The kernels ol S. esculentus are eaten in the West Indies, 

 and deemed as palatable as the hazel-nut or almond. They are generally 

 termed soap-berries. The fruit are used as indicated by the native name, 

 and sold in all the bazaars in India ; they are used for a similar purpose in 

 South America. The arils, or capsides, are very acrid ; they lather 

 freely in water, and will cleanse more linen than sixty times their 

 weight of soap, but in time, it is said, they corrode or burn the linen. 

 This assertion, however, requires confirmation. 



