4 6 



When heated, the oil began to melt at 19 C. and was a clear 

 liquid at 28 C. It had very marked drying properties and yielded 

 a solid, transparent film. On saponification with caustic soda, the 

 oil furnished a rather soft soap of a yellowish colour. 



In the following table, the constants and properties of the oil ex- 

 tracted from this sample of meal are contrasted with those of the 

 oil obtained from the freshly crushed decorticated seeds ; the con- 

 stants of linseed oil are again added for comparison. 



Oil extracted from 

 Para Rubber seed 

 meal. 



Oil extracted from 

 decorticated Para 



Rubber seeds 

 ( freshly crashed. | 



Yield of Oil per 



cent. 

 Physical state 

 Specific gravity 



i5°/*5° 



\ ree fatty acids 

 per cent, (cal- 

 culated as oleic 

 acid) 



Iodine value 



Solid below 

 O.Qi 1 



65.6 

 [36.2 



19 C 



42.3 

 Liquid 



0.9302 



54 



128. 



Linseed Oil. 



33-37 , 

 Liquid 



O.93I-0.937 



04-5.7 

 160-181 



It will be observed that the oil extracted from the meal was solid 

 whereas that obtained from the freshly ground seed was a liquid. 

 This difference is due to the large proportion (65.6 per cent.) of 

 free fatty acids present in the former, whilst the latter contained 

 only 5.4 per cent, of free acids. The cause of this difference in the 

 two oils has been investigated and it has been found that after the 

 seed has been crushed the oil gradually undergoes decomposition, 

 owing to the action of a Hydrolytic enzyme contained in the seed 

 which will be made the subject of special study. 



Analysis of the Meal. 



The meal furnished the following results on analysis : — 



Moisture ... ... 9. 1 per cent 



Ash ... ... ... 3.53 „ 



Fibre ... ... ... 3.4 



Oil ... ... ... 36.1 „ 



Proteids ... ... 18.2 „ 



Carbohydrates ... ... 29.67 f) 



The ash was found to contain 30.3 per cent, of phosphoric acid 

 (calculated as P. 2 O. 5) present in the form of phosphates, which 

 is equivalent to 1.07 per cent, of phosphoric acid in the meal. 



The results of this examination of the Para Rubber seed meal in- 

 dicate that the material thus prepared could neither be used as a 

 fodder owing to the presence in it of large quantities of free fatty 

 acids nor for the expression of Para Rubber seed oil since the latter 



