oct. — dec. 1857.] Oils of Southern India. 27 



l,400lbs. of seed at Rs. 3-3-0 per bag of 1641bs. Rs. 27 3 4 



Husking and selecting Kernels and cooly hire 3 11 9 



Crushing, moulding, pressing, boiling 2 7 1 



Filtering and Sundries 2 8 0 



Overseer's pay, Godown rent 1 6 2 



300 Empty Quart bottles, Corks, kc ,34 4 8 



Cleaning and Packing Charges. 4 8 0 



Total Rs. . . 76 1 0 



Deducting the price of the bottles, this gives an average of annas 

 I pies 4-^-per quart of first, second, and third sort oil. 



This oil is chiefly used as a mild purgative, and by Natives for 

 anointing the head. Soap of good quality may be made from it, 

 but the cost and disagreeable smell which it communicates, preclude 

 its general use. 



The average export from the year 1849-50 to 1852-3 was 11,325 

 gallons per annum. 



The method of extracting this oil by the boiling process is thus 

 given by Ainslie. " The seeds are boiled for two hours in water, 

 dried for 3 days in the sun, husked and pounded. They are then 

 boiled in fresh water until the whole of the oil has risen to the 

 surf ace. V 



Castor oil being entirely soluble in highly rectified alcohol of sp. 

 grav. *825, any adulteration of it with other fixed oils may be ascer- 

 tained by dissolving a sample in 8 times its weight of spirit, the 

 fixed oil is not dissolved but floats on the surface. This however 

 is not an infallible test. 



No. 6, Ground nut oil. (Arachis hypogaa.) 



The Ground nut or " Manilla" nut, and the oil extracted there- 

 from, has of late years been exported to a considerable extent. It is 

 now grown in all parts of the Peninsula. The oil is seldom used by 

 the Natives, although large quantities of the nut are eaten after 

 being slightly roasted over a charcoal fire. The cleaned seeds yield 

 about 43 per cent, of a clear straw colored edible oil possessing a 



