October i, 1889.I THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
but the slight error of level caused the beautifully 
fitted parts to lock, and thus prevented its working. 
On such seeming trifles the success of a machine may 
often depend. We are further reminded that on a recent 
visit to a tea factory we were informed that the Fair- 
bank weighing machines were not reliable. As this was 
a most unexpected result we endeavoured to ascertain 
the cause, and soon found that the machine was being 
used on a table considerably out of the level which of 
course interfered with the clue working of the mechanism. 
With regard to the Blackstone roller, of which we our- 
selves have very little knowledge, we can only remind 
those of our friends the planters who may happen to 
possess it that they should consult the maker with re- 
gard to any difficulty they find in the working of it. 
— " OeyloL. Independent." 
• ■* 
LAUREL-NUT OIL. 
BY DAVID HOOPER. 
The Alexandrian laurel (CalophyUum Inopkyllum, 
L.) is distributed throughout India and Malaya, and 
is especially abundant on the western coast and in 
the native state of Travancore. The Hindustani name 
of the tree is Sultan Champa, the Tamil and Mala- 
yalam name is Punnai. Its thick green and glossy 
leaves resemble those of a laurel, but the tree is far 
removed from this family of plants, as it is really 
a Guttifer, belonging to the natural order Clusiaceas. 
The fruit is about the size of a bantam's egg when 
ripe, and of a greenish yellow colour ; when dry it 
is brown or black and has a hard wrinkled surface. 
The seed, consisting of two white closely united 
he mispherical cotyledons, loses in drying 30 per cent, 
of water, and the dried seed yields 68 per cent, of 
fixed oils. This oil is largely used for burning, and 
is occasionally used for making varnishes and soap 
In medicine the oil is employed either alone or mixe 
with more powerful remedies as a liniment for rheum 
tism, and is applied to ringworm and various skin 
eruptions. The tariff valuation of laurel-nuts in Tra- 
vancore is R7 per cwt. and the oil R8 as against 
coconut oil R14 per cwt. The value of the ex- 
ports of laurel- nut oil from Travancore during the 
past five years has been as follows : — 1882-83, 
R74,314 ; 1883-84, R68,767 ; 1884-85, R4S,997 ; 1885- 
8 6, R78,845; 188G-87 R57,14S. In 1886-87 63 cwt 
was exported from Alleppey. Dr. Watt says that 
although this oil cannot compete with castor oil for 
industrial purposes in the Calcutta market, it fetches 
about four times the Calcutta price of castor oil in 
Burma.* In the Colonial and Indian Exhibition f held 
in London in 1886, this oil was shown from India, 
Ceylon, Straits Settlements, Queensland and Fiji._ It 
is known out of India as domba, dilo or ndilo oil. 
Laurel-nut oil is greenish-yellow, bitter and aromatic, 
but it has not been investigated chemically. Lepine 
found a sample to have the sp. gr. 0,942, and to 
olidify at -f 5°. During a recent visit to Travancore, 
I found a large trade being done in the nuts and 
oil of CalophyUum Inopkyllum in the village of Neyoor, 
about sixteen miles from Cape Comoriu, and here I 
purchased a sample of oil for examination. The oil 
was similar in appearance to some I expressed myself 
from some freshly dried almonds obtained from Neyoor. 
The following notes give the results of a chemical 
examination of the oil made with the assistance of 
Allen's ' Commercial Organic Analysis.' 
The oil had a greenish-yellow colour, thick consis- 
tence, fragaut odour and bitter taste. It commenced 
to congeal at the temperature of 19° C, and became 
quite solid at 16°, when it had a specific gravity of 
0-9315. 
The free acidity of the oil was found by shaking 
a weighed portion with alcohol and titrating the 
solution with normal alkali, using phenol- phthalein 
as an indicator. One hundred grams of the oil 
required 189 grams of caustic potash to neutralize 
the free acids. 
* 'Guide to the Economic and Commercial o ic > 
Calcutta, 1886. 
t JPharm. Jouni,, [3], xvii., pp. 6, 142, 226, 
The oil was saponified by boiling a weighed quan- 
tity for one hour with alcoholic potash, and the 
excess of alkali was determined by titration witli 
normal hydrochloric acid. It was found that 100 
grams required 19 - 6 grams of KHO to convert it 
into a soap ; the saponification equivalent was therefore 
285'6. The soap solution in alcohol, allowed to stand 
for a few hours partially crystallized into lustrous 
white scales. 
The volatile fatty acids obtained by Reichert's dis- 
tillation process were very small in quantity, 2'412 
grams of oil required the equivalent of 0'1 e. c. of 
normal alkali for saturating; the volatile acids, which 
is equal to 0'23 per cent, or K.fct.O. 
Two drops of sulphuric acid added to 20 drops of 
the oil gave a red coloration with orange streaks ; after 
stirring the whole became an orange-brown mixture. 
The oil shaken up with an equal volume of nitric 
acid, sp. gr. 1'4, formed a light reddish-brown emulsion ; 
after standing for an hour the oil separated with a 
rich mahogany brown colour, and the lower acid liquor 
was red. Treating the oil according to Poutet's elaidin 
Reaction, and working at a temperature of 20o, the 
mixture of oil and nitric oxide solution congealed in 
two and a half hours ; after twenty four hours it re- 
mained as a firm butter-like solid of a dull lemou colour, 
and yielding to the pressure of the finger. 
5'045 grams of the oil were on November 7 exposed 
to the air in a watch-glass under a bell-jar, and weighed 
daily for one month. The increase in weight was just 
appreciable after the exposure; the weight on December 
7 was 5'047. This quantity of oil heated iu a water- 
oven at 93° for eight hours gained O'OOl! gram only. 
The insoluble fatty acids amounted to 90'85 per cent. 
They crystallized into radiatin? tufts of acicular 
crystals, having a melting point of 37'6°, and a specific 
gravity of 0'9237 (solid) at 16°, and of 0'8688 at 90°. 
Their mean combining weight, obtained by titrating 
the washed and dried acids with normal alkali and 
using phenol-phthalein as an indicator, was found to 
be 283'1 A lead soap of the fatty acids was made by 
decomposing the potash soap with a hot solution of 
lumbic acetate. After washing and drying, 1 gram 
was weighed out and shaken up with ether ; the oleate 
of lead, or soluble lead soap, weighed. 44 gram after 
the ether had been rapidly driven off. The lead soap 
insoluble in ether was decomposed, and the purified 
fatty acids had a melting point of 58°. 
The oil agitated with 85 per cent, alcohol removed 
the green colouring mitter and a sticky extract poss- 
essing the peculiar mdilot-like odour and the bitter 
taste. This extract arrounted to about 7 per cent. ; it 
was almost entirely soluble in dilute alkalies with 
an orange colour, precipitated unaltered on the addi- 
tion of acid, and was perfectly soluble in ether and 
chloroform. The green mass was boiled with water 
and the filtered liquor evaporated had the odour of 
coumarin, but no rhombic yr/.-.tils of coumarin could 
be observed in the slight residue when examined 
under a microscope. The alcoholic residue was crys- 
stalline, and contained some free fatty acids of the oil. 
The conclusion arrived at from the examination of 
the laurel-nut oil is that it cannot be regarded as 
a drying oil, nor altogether as non-drying, but must 
take up an intermediate position between the two. 
In endeavouring to classify this oil with those that 
have already been investigated, the task is not difficult. 
Most of the experiments exhibit in a very striking 
manner a strong relationship to those of the cotton- 
seed oil group. The saponification equivalent, the high 
melting point of the fatty acids and the free acids 
are very remarkable, and the sulphuric and nitric 
acid tests are particularly allied to those performed 
upon cotton-seed oil — Pharmaceutical Journal. 
Japan Rice. — A prominent dealer says : — " The half 
has not been told respecting the merits of the Japan 
rice. It is the equal of the Carolina head in grain and 
color ; in food properties it outranks all other styles ; 
in price it is far below any similar and compet- 
ing grade of domestic or foreign. These facts pro- 
bably account for its phenomenal sales and popu- 
liarity."— American Grocer 
