Oils of Southern India, [no. 5 } new series* 



tree common in most parts of India. Its fluidity at ordinary 

 (Indian) temperatures renders it very suitable for burning in lamps, 

 whilst its comparative cheapness leads to its use as an adulteration 

 with other more expensive oils. 



No. 15. Coorookoo or Brumadundoo oil. (Argemone mexicana.) 



This pale yellow limpid oil may be obtained from the round 

 corrugated seeds of the " prickly poppy" which was originally intro- 

 duced from Mexico in ballast, but now flourishes luxuriantly in all 

 parts of Southern India. It is especially suited for lamps, and is 

 also employed in the process dying red thread, and as an external 

 application in cutaneous diseases. The seeds yield 12 J per cent, of oil. 



W. Hamilton, Esq. m. d. remarks of this oil, " that the Materia 

 Medica hardly presents a more valuable purgative, or one which 

 answers so many apparently conflicting circumstances at one and 

 the same time. In that excruciating complaint, so common in all 

 climates, colic arising from constipation of the bowels, 30 drops of 

 the oil taken upon a lump of sugar allay the pain as if by magic, 

 throw the patient into a profound sleep, and after a little time pro- 

 duces a copious and unpainful evacuation of the bowels. The mi- 

 nuteness of the requisite dose, the instantaneousness of the relief, 

 and the mild and gentle though effectual action it produces upon the 

 intestinal canal, seem peculiarly to adapt it for cases of Cholera, su- 

 perseding the use of Chloroform and Opium for subduing the cramps 

 and mitigating the more urgent symptoms." 



No. 16. Cdt amunak oil. (Curcas purgans.) 



This oil has of late been exported to Europe as a substitute for 

 Linseed oil, but the results of the experiment have not as yet trans- 

 pired. The shrub is plentiful all over the Presidency, and the oil 

 can be obtained in some parts of the country for little more than 

 the expense of the collection of the seeds and cost of extraction. 

 It is used by the Natives in lamps, &c. 



" Under the name of " seed oil" it has been imported into Eng- 

 land to the amount of nearly 1000 tons per annum from Lisbon, 

 where it was first used by the contractor in lighting the public streets, 

 and so useful was it found, that it soon usurped the place of all other 

 oils. It has been found to answer in England for cloth dressing, 



