Oils and Fats, 



216 



fSEPTEMBER, 1908. 



The Mexican Poppy is known by the 

 following vernacular names : — 



Bharbhand, kutaila, kutila, kantala, 

 Hind.; Shiel kanta, Beng. ; Feringi, or 

 pila dhatura, Dec. ; Dalturi, Can. ; Bir- 

 amadandu, Tarn. ; Daruri, Kandew, Mar. 



The plant is at once recognised by its 

 yellow flowers, prickly leaves with white 

 veins, and the yellow juice that exudes 

 when the plant is broken. 



Habitat. — The Mexican poppy is a 

 native ot Jamaica, the Carribean Islands 

 and Mexico, from which last country 

 the Spaniards brought it to Europe 

 under the name of Fico-del-inferno or 

 Fig-of-hell. It Avas introduced into 

 India about three centuries ago, pre- 

 sumably as ballast from abroad, and is 

 now found all over the country in every 

 nullah and abandoned rubbish heap. 

 Being an annual it springs up from seed 

 in the cold season, spreads as a weed in 

 waste ground and on newly turned soil, 

 ascending to 5,000 feet in the Himalayas. 

 In Sind it is found among field crops 

 and about a mile inward along the 

 Indus, and in some places, as Kofcri, may 

 be seen to cover large tracts. In the 

 Punjab it has been introduced within 

 recent years and is slowly extending. It 

 has not been noticed as occurring mvxch 

 to the West of Lahore. In 1854, Edge- 

 worth observed that it had not reached 

 Multan, but in 1866, it was seen in the 

 extreme south-west of that district near 

 the junction of the Chenab with the 

 Sutlej. It is abundant near Delhi, where 

 an oil is extracted, and it is a typical 

 plant of the nitre region of Hissar and 

 Hansi. It is one of the principal plants 

 forming tbe vegetation of Lakhimpur, 

 Assam, and is an invading foreigner in 

 Manipur. In many parts of the country 

 the plant is so abundant as to become 

 a source of anxiety to the cultivator, 

 and it was found to be doing so much 

 harm to the young growth of Sadnani 

 Forest in Sind in 1899 that the depart- 

 ment were compelled to take steps to 

 suppress it. 



Uses op Seed and Oil. 

 Argemone has long been used in India 

 in medicine. Ainslie informs us that the 

 Hakims employed the oil as an external 

 application in such headaches as are 

 caused by the sun, and the Vythians 

 recommend it as a liniment for a scald 

 head. Dr. Irvine of Patna says the oil 

 stimulates indolent ulcers and eruptions, 

 and others have applied it in cases of 

 itch, ringworm and cutaneous diseases, 

 with beneficial results. 



The seeds are emetic, cathartic and 

 acrid. The acrid and purgative proper- 

 ties of the seeds are contained in the 



oil. Opinions regarding the efficacy of 

 the oil have differed in the past ( but the 

 balance of recent medical opinion is that 

 in small doses of 10 to 30 minim s it con- 

 stitutes an active cathartic. This has 

 recently been confirmed by Colonel 

 Grant. It has been noticed that freshly 

 prepared oil is more energetic and uni- 

 form in its operation than that which 

 has been kept for some time. 



The oil is used for burning in the lamps 

 in the Konkan and other parts of India. 

 In South America the expressed oil is 

 employed by painters and for giving a 

 shining appearance to wood ; it is pro- 

 bable, too, that the acridity of the oil 

 will prevent the attacks of white ants 

 and borers. It saponifies readily and 

 gives a hard soap with soda. 



It is not likely to take the place of 

 castor oil in general practice, but the 

 smallness of the dose is an advantage 

 which is calculated to recommend it in 

 some quarters. 



The seeds are poisonous if taken in 

 quantity. In 1878, a case occurred in 

 Bombay in which a number of people 

 suffered from vomiting and purging 

 after using sweet oil which had been 

 adulterated with Argemone oil. The 

 adulteration may be detected by the 

 rich orange-red colour developed when 

 strong nitric acid is added to the oil or 

 mixtures containing it. In the same 

 year samples of oil were received by the 

 Punjab Chemical Examiner from Amrit- 

 sar, Simla, and other towns which were 

 said to possess irritant properties, caus- 

 ing purging and vomiting. The oil was 

 stated to have been imported from the 

 United Provinces and to have been made 

 from Siyal kanta (Jackal's thorn) the 

 vernacular name for Argemone Mexicana. 



Chemical Composition. 

 The seeds are small, round, black, and 

 roughish from pitted depressions ; they 

 are about the size of rape seed. 



They contain in one hundred parts, 

 36 parts of oil, 19 parts of carbohydrates, 

 albuminoids and fibre, 9 of moisture and 

 6 of ash. W. H. Bloemendal, examining 

 ten samples of the seeds of Argemone 

 from Curacao and other countries, col- 

 lected in the Haarlem Colonial Museum, 

 found the yield of oil to vary from 35 to 

 38*7 percent., or an average of 37 per 

 cent. (Pharm. Weekblad., 1906, 14). By 

 ordinary pressure the seeds yield from 

 25 to 30 per cent, of oil, a quantity equal 

 to that obtained from rape seed. 



It has been stated that the narcotic 

 property of tli ( ^ceds is due to the pre- 

 sence of morphine, and Gragendorff iso- 

 lated an alkaloid from them in 1868, and 



