July 2, 1900. J Supplement to the " Tropical Agriculturist." 
69 
piren again for anotlier four days, and so on. 
A due iillowiuice of suit should be given to all the 
cattle and their bowels kept in gnod order. 
8. If rinderpest breaks out on the estate, an 
nttempt should at once be made to stamp it out 
by immediately destroying tlie lirst one or two 
cases and thoroughly disinfecting the place. As 
fever is one of the earlies*'- symptoms, the temper- 
ature of the remaining cattle should be taken 
every day, and any showing a temperature of 
over 10;i° V. should be removed and isolated at once, 
before they spread the infection to their neigh- 
bour.'--. All the cattle on the estate may now be 
inoculated. 
9. If the disease threatens to spread further, 
of if the outbreak on the estate has somewhat 
advanced, the inoculation of all the cattle becomes 
ft positive necessity. But it would not be neces- 
sary to have all the cattle (including dairy cuttle, 
stud bulls, &c.) inoculated unless there is rinder- 
pest on the estate itself or in its immediate 
vicinity. 
10. Inoculation will be done by the officers 
of the Government Veterinary Department gratis 
or at a very moderate expense to the owners, 
when application is made in case of actunl 
necessity. 
11. Einderpest carcases should he buried six 
feet deep, and as far away as possible from 
human habitation, public roads, water-courses, 
cattle shed?, and grazing grounds. Carcases 
should not be dragged along the ground, but 
should be lifted up by coolies suspended on 
strong sticks. The quarteritig of carcases before 
burial should not be allowed, as well as the con- 
sumption of rinderpest meat by coolies, These 
are sure means of spreading the disease. 
12. Disinfectants (such as a one or two per 
cent, solution of carbolic acid or Jeyes' fluid) 
should be freely used when rinderpest is prevalent, 
and anything known or suspected to be infected 
(including coolies who have buried the carcases) 
should be thoroughly disinfected. The fumes of 
burning sulphur are very useful for disinfecting 
the air of cattle sheds, &c. Fire is one of the 
best and cheapest disinfectants, and any infected 
matter that can be burned or even charred, such 
as litter, should be so treated. 
E. T. HOOLE, 
Acting Govt. Veterinary Surgeon.' 
A EEfORT ON EDIBLE OILS. 
One of tho latest numbers of the Agricultural 
Ledger Series treats of Indian Edible Oils, and 
contains a report by Prof. Dunstane, r,R.s., 
Director of the Scientific Department of the 
Imperial Institute. 
Prof. Dunstane prefaces his report with the 
following remarks : — Among the subjects awaiting 
investigation by the Scientific Department at 
the beginning of the present year was that of Indian 
Edible Oils, samples of which have been collected 
in India during the last two years under the 
supervision of the Eeporter on Economic Pro- 
ducts to the Government of India and despatched 
by him to the Imperial Institute. As the subject 
is au important one, and the entire staff of the 
Department n'as, and is now, occupied with other 
investigation^, most of them on Indian subjects, 
I decided to arrange for the^e oils to be examined 
in my laboratory at Sr. Thomas' Hospital 
by two young assistants specially competent to 
engage in such work. Dr. H. W. Crossley, M.Sc. 
Ph.D., ami Mr. H. R. LeSueur, B.Sc. The 
Government Grant Committee of the Royal Society 
were good enough to make a small grant from 
the Government Fund for Scientific Research to 
defray the expenses connected with these experi- 
ments. 
The plan of investigation which seemed to me 
likely to be serviceable was to e.xamine in the 
first instance the chief piiysical and chemical, 
characters of each oil, so as to furnish a basis for 
their comparison with well-known and largely- 
used edible oils, and thus to render it possible 
to obtain a report on the commercial value of the 
Indian sample-. After this preliminary survey 
of the entire collection it might prove to be worth 
wliile to examine more minutely the chemistry of 
those oils ^hich appeared to present features of 
novelty. The preliminary examination of the 
oils has now been completed by Messrs. Crossley 
and LeSueur, who will present an account of 
their re.>ults to the Society of Chemical Industry, 
winch will subsequently be printed in the jour- 
nal of the Society. By this means it is hoped that 
the attention of oil brokers and merchants will 
be directed to the variety of excellent oils belong- 
ing to almost every class which are obtainable 
in India, and that the experimental data will 
enable us to obtain a trustworthy opinion as to 
commercial uses and value. I ought to say tiiat 
when the oils were first received, I made several 
attempts to ascertain their market value but 
entirely without success, as no scientific data 
existed as to their composition and quality. 
Then follows a list of the oils which were 
examined. 
The reference to coconut oil is naturally of 
primary interest to us. The samples were drawn 
from Malabar, Bengal and Bombay, and the follow- 
ing results of the examination of the chemical 
and physical characters were noted in the three 
samples :— 
Malabar. Bengal. Bombay 
Specific gravity -9030 - -9040 - -9042 
Acid value as k.O.H 35'21 - 11'84 - 9-95 
,, as Oleic acid 8-86 - 2-98 - 2 -50 
Saponification value 25*82 - 2.j.5"6 - 2oo-5 
Iodine value 8-54 - 8*41 - 8-25 
Reichert-Meissel value 6*71 - 6*79 - 6"65 
Insoluble fatty acids — - 82'35 - — 
Melting point 23'o - 24-5 - 25-0 
The percentage yield of oil from Bengal and 
Bombay are given as 52-3 and 57'1. The constants, 
says Prof. Dunstance, of these Indian species 
agree with those on record for this oil, except 
the Reichert-Meissel value which is markedly 
higher, 
The following reference to the composition and 
properties of coconut oil (and Ceylon coconut oil 
in particular) occur in Cochran's Manual of 
chemical Analysis : — 
The soap made from it is soluble to a larger ex- 
tent in saline and alkaline water than most othec 
kinds of soap, hence it is used for the mauufac* 
