N. 0. PALMEJE. 
1323 
and the preparation of soap liniment ” (Dymock). The Phar- 
macopoeia, on the other hand, says this oil is inferior to 
gronnd-nut oil and sesamum oil as a vehicle for liniments. 
Sakharara Arjun remarks : “ The fresh oil is prepared for 
medicinal purposes by boiling the milk of the ripe cocoanut. 
It is used as an application for burns and in baldness.” Ainslie 
observes it is obtained by boiling the bruised kernels in water, 
or “ on other occasions it is obtained by expression.” Drury 
says: “The oil used internally for medicinal purposes is not 
the common commercial oil in its crude state, but the oleine 
obtained by pressure refined by being treated with alkalies, 
and then repeatedly washed and distilled with water.” The 
therapeutic properties of the oil are discussed in the United 
States Dispensatory. “ In Germany it has been used in phar- 
macy, to a considerable extent, as a substitute for lard, to which, 
according to Pettenkofer, it is preferable on account of its less 
tendency to rancidity, its more ready absorption when rubbed on 
the surface of the body, and its less liability to produce chemical 
changes in the substande with which it is associated. Thus the 
ointment of iodine of potassium, when made with lard, becomes 
yellow in a few days, while if made with cocoanut oil it remains 
unchanged for two months or more. Vegetable substances also 
keep better in ointment prepared with this oil than with lard. 
Besides, it takes up one-third more water, which is a useful 
quality when it is desirable to apply saline solutions externally.” 
“ A preparation has been shown to us, said to be the liquid part 
of cocoanut oil. prepared in London, and, under the name of 
coco-olein, used, instead of the oil itself, as a substitute for cod- 
liver oil. The dose of this, as well as of the oil, is half a fluid 
ounce three times a day.” 
The various processes adopted in India for preparing oil 
from the cocoanut result in the formation of substances that 
are reputed to possess widely different properties. This fact 
might almost be supposed to be in consequence of chemically 
different oils being isolated. Dr. Dymock says of the so-called 
mulhel oil : “ In the Konkan the oil which separates from the 
freshly-rasped kernel, alone or mixed with tamarind-seed oil, 
