426 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
as when full grown, I therefore conceive that it buries itself to 
its greatest depth before seeds begin to enlarge, and while the 
germ is only on obtuse point.” 
Found all over the warm parts of Asia, In the Dekkan and 
Concan. 
Parts used : — The nut and oil. 
Uses : — The oil may take the place of olive oil. “In Bombay 
the oil is expressed at the Government Medical Store Depot 
for pharmaceutical purposes, to the extent of about 6,000 lbs. 
annually. It is used as a substitute for olive oil” (Dymock). 
“ The experiments of Winter in the United States is that it is 
well adapted for the preparation of cerates and ointments, but 
that it would not serve as a substitute for olive oil in the prepar- 
ation of lead plaster. Falicres found it to possess great aptitude 
for the nitric solidification, hence he has recommended its use 
in the preparation of U nguentum Hydrargyri Nitratis ” (Bentley 
and Trimen). “ The unripe nuts are sweet and are given to 
women whose supply of milk is insufficient for their children ; 
the unripe nuts are less oily and, therefore, more easily digested” 
(Subba Rao). 
Leather has shown that the MauritVus variety of ground-nut contains from 
44 to 49 per cent, of oil, while the indigenous varieties contain only 40 to 44 
per cent. Newer samples have more recently been imported and it has been 
noticed that they are uniformly more rich in oil than the local kinds. These 
figures refer to the proportion of oil in the kernels. The proportion by 
weight of unhusked nuts to kernels is as 4 to 3. The bulk of the Indian manu- 
facture of the oil is in the hands of owners of native rotary mills. Mills of 
the European pattern have been tried in South India, but they could not 
compete with the crude native mills as the cake from the former was too dry 
and powdery. Recently mills have been opened in Calcutta and elsewhere in 
Bengal for the manufacture of the oil and have created a large import traffic 
in the nuts. The nuts having been shelled the expression is carried out in 
two stages. The first expression is carried out at the ordinary temperature, 
and the cold drawn oil is nearly colourless, has a pleasant taste and is used 
as a salad oil. The second expression is made at a temperature of 30° to 32° 
and yields an oil suitable for edible purposes aud for burning. Sometime a 
third expression is made at a higher temperature and gives a turbid oil 
suitable for soap making. Araehis cake contains the highest amount of 
proteins of all known oil-cakes. That from non-decorticated nuts contains 5 - 35 
per cent, of nitrogen and 0'9 per cent, of phosphoric acid, and that from the 
kernels contains 79 per cent, of nitrogen aud 135 per cent, of phos phoric acid. 
