December, 1909.] 



489 



Oils and Fats. 



people, and which, I think, will be con- 

 ceded, is a fairly intelligent country, 

 it would have required on the present 

 basis of formula for making oleomar- 

 garine 2,370,000 barrels to take care of 

 the domestic demand for oleomargarine 

 alone, to say nothing of the demand 

 for other purposes, which takes now 

 probably about a million barrels. 



When these facts are considered it 

 is easy to see why the oleomargarine 

 question received such a warm recep- 

 tion at the Memphis meeting, and why 

 it is that cottonseed oil crushers are 

 heartily in favour of a repeal of the 

 present oleomargarine law, aside from 

 the fact that every true American 

 citizen is opposed to the law because 

 it does exactly what our constitution 

 says cannot be done, that is, taxes one 

 class for the benefit of another, and 

 with one hand uses the taxing power 

 of the government to tear down one 

 industry, while the other hand is building 

 up what will some day be a most for- 

 midable and pernicious trust, as it has 

 already shown itself to possess all the 

 elements to bring about that result. 



The writer was recently approached 

 by a party in the East who claims to 

 have discovered a process of refining 

 cottonseed oils, rendering them sweet 

 and palatable at what he states, is much 

 lower cost than is possible with present 

 methods. 1 have not had the oppor- 

 tunity yet to investigate his processes 

 as I shall do later, but the informa- 

 tion leads me to state for the benefit 

 of the cottonseed oil chemists that if 

 they could produce an oil which would 

 be absolutely neutral in tests and smell, 

 they would find a much larger market 

 for this oil than they now do. 



In the manufacture of oleomargarine, 

 for instance, about 30 per cent, of cotton- 

 seed oil is used, and the only reason 

 why more of it is not used is because 

 of the fact that that is about all the pro- 

 duct will stand without disclosing itself 

 on account of the peculiar taste which 

 it seems hard to get out of the oil. 

 For the manufacture of oleomargarine 

 a pure neutral oil is essential, and 

 when this is discovered or produced it 

 will find a ready sale. Another item 

 which may be of value to the cotton- 

 seed oil chemist is that if he could 

 produce an edible oil without destroy- 

 ing the crude colour, or if he could 

 have that colour a red gold tint, it 

 would open up an entire new market 

 and would bring a good price. 



It is well known that at present the 

 refining of cottonseed oil takes its colour 

 out along with the objectionable taste, 

 62 



but if this taste could be removed and 

 the colour left, I believe we should 

 have a product which would revolu- 

 tionize the industry of oleomargarine 

 making, which industry is rapidly in- 

 creasing and will increase still faster 

 whenever it can get the proper materials 

 to produce it. 



PRESERVATION OP MIXTURES OP 

 SESSAMUM AND GROUNDNUT OIL. 



(Prom the Indian Trade Journal, Vol. 

 XIV, No. 181, September 16, 1909.) 

 In "Leaflet" No. 18 issued by the 

 Department of Agriculture, Burma, it 

 is stated that there appears to be, in 

 certain parts of Burma, a belief that 

 sessamum oil and groundnut oil undergo 

 spontaneous decomposition or fermenta- 

 tion when mixed ; the idea apparently 

 being that one or other of these oils 

 contains some active principle which, 

 though harmless to the oil containing 

 it, brings about decomposition in the 

 admixed oil. 



This belief is not well founded. Ex- 

 perimental tests prove conclusively that 

 no rancidity, gas formation, or deposit 

 of any kind occurs in a mixture of the 

 two oils, provided it is kept in clean 

 vessels. Tubes containing sterilised 

 oil and unsterilised oil cannot be dis- 

 tinguished from one another by any 

 means even after they have been kept 

 standing for three months. In no case 

 has it been found that any decomposi- 

 tion has taken place. It is clear there- 

 fore that the mixed oil is not liable to 

 spontaneous fermentation, and that 

 where such fermentation takes place, 

 it must be entirely due to the infected 

 vessels in which the oil is stored. 



Doubtless oil-dealers; who have suffered 

 loss through decomposition of their 

 stock, have made efforts to clean their 

 vessels. It is, however, unfortunately a 

 difficult matter to clean a vessel which 

 has contained oil, more especially if it 

 is to be cleaned to such an extent as 

 to remove bacterial infection. It would 

 be quite impossible to clean an earthen 

 vessel to this extent if it were not 

 thoroughly glazed. A well-glazed vessel 

 may be cleaned with soda or with some 

 good varieties of " sat-pyamye " follow- 

 ed in either case by a liberal use of hot 

 water. It is not desirable that any 

 chemical disinfectant should be added 

 to preserve the oil. The experiments 

 carried out have shown very distinctly 

 that it will keep well in clean vessels. 



The use of a great deal of water in 

 the process of expression of either 

 sessamum or groundnut oil may account 



