N. 0. SAHNDACEJE. 
359 
In the Nilgiris the oil is used for anointing the body. The medicinal 
effects are variously reported as purgative (in the United Provinces) and as 
prophylactic against cholera (in Thana division, Bombay). It is more usuql 
to apply it externally in massage for rheumatism (Bombay), for the cure of 
headache (Sambalpup, Central Provinces). Its application in Bombay, 
Malabar, and Coorg is said to be effective in removing itch and other forms 
of skin diseases, and this remedy is known to the wild forest tribes. The 
powdered seeds are applied to ulcers of animals and for removing maggots. 
The seeds. 
The seeds are ovoid or rounded in shape, about five-eighths of an inch 
long by half an inch broad, smooth, reddish-brown in colour, and marked with 
an indented hilum at one end. One hundred seeds weigh 57 grains giving 
an average weight of 87 grains per seed. On removing the brown, brittle 
shell a dirty white kernel is disclosed with white markings on the testa. 
One hundred parts of seeds afford 60 parts of kernels and 84 parts of shells. 
The kernels extracted with ether or petroleum spirit yielded in the Calcutta 
Indian Museum laboratory 61‘4 per cent, of oil, showing that the entire seed 
contains 40'5 per cent, of oil. 
Mr. J. H. Walker of the Oil Department of the Gourlpore Company, Naihati, 
obtained a yield of 60'4 per cent, of a thick fixed oil from the kernels, which 
is equivalent to 887 per cent, on the nuts. 
Composition of seeds and oil. 
The first analysis of the seeds appears to have been made by Dr. L. Fan 
Itallie [Apoth, Zeitung. (1889), 4*506], who separated about 86 per cent, of a 
buttery fat, which he called the Macassar oil of commerce. It bad a specific 
gravity of 0'924 at 16° C., melted at 28° C., had an iodine number of 58, a 
saponification equivalent of 219 (1 gram required 280 mgm. of potash for 
saponification), contained 91 per cent, of insoluble fatty acids and 6-3 per 
cent. .of glycerol. The fatty acids present included acetic, butyric, lauric, 
arachic and oleic acids. 
The next recorded analysis of Macassar oil is that of Dr. K. Trummel 
[Apoth. Zeitung. (1889), 4-518], The oil had a melting point of 21 ,, -22 0 C. 
The presence of hydrocyanic acid was detected and 0'47 per cent, obtained by 
steam distillation. BeDzaldehyde was detected in the distillate by its 
transformation into benzoic acid by the action of potassium permanganate. 
Dr. Trummel in conjunction with Mr. Kwassick further investigated the 
oil in 1891 (Pharm. Zeit. May 1891, 814), after confirming previous results the 
authors separated the constituents of the oil. The fatty acids, with the 
exception of 8-15 per cent, of free oleic acid, were present as glycerides. 
Of these in combination 70 per cent, consisted of oleic acid, and of the 
solid fatty acids 5 per cent, was palmitic and 25 per cent, arachic 
acid, the characteristic acid of the ground-nut. Laurie acid was not 
present, and of the volatile fat acids only acetic and no butyric acid 
could be detected. Hydrocyanic was found in the oil and in the seeds, 
being determined as 0’08 per cent, in the former and 0*62 per cent, in 
