ON THE VERIFICATION OF CASTOR OIL. 3S7 
An Address on the Pneumoclime and the Pneumothalp Pemedial Agents. By Julius 
Jeffreys, F.R.S. From the Author. 
A List of the Fellows , Members , and Licentiates of the Royal College of Physicians. 
From the College. 
Watts's Fiction ary of Chemistry. Part xii. From the Author. 
Papers on Indian Materia Medica. By E. Waring, M.R.C.S. From the Author. 
The President, in opening the meeting, said he had much pleasure in 
placing before them a copy of the British Pharmacopoeia, and in announcing 
a short course of evening lectures upon the subject of the Pharmacopoeia, 
•which would be delivered in this and succeeding months, by Professors Bed- 
wood and Bentley, and Dr. Attfield. They all had to bear in mind the 
fact that the British Pharmacopoeia was now the authorized text-book by 
which they must be guided. There were manj 7 " changes effected by the in¬ 
troduction of the new work, and they had all to make themselves acquainted 
with the nature of these changes. There were always inconveniences attend¬ 
ing such alterations, but these were unavoidable, and it was the duty of all par¬ 
ties to facilitate the change from one system to the other as much as possible. 
In the first instance, it was often difficult to determine whether prescribers 
intended to order the new preparations or the old, and much discretion had 
to be exercised upon this point. Subjects connected with the changes 
effected by the new Pharmacopoeia would no doubt be frequently brought 
before their evening meetings for discussion. He had now, however, to intro¬ 
duce a subject of a very different description, and he begged to call upon 
Mr. Tomlinson to read a paper. 
ON THE VERIFICATION OF CASTOR OIL AND BALSAM OF 
COPAIBA BY MEANS OF THEIR COHESION FIGURES. 
BY CHARLES TOMLINSON, 
Lecturer on Physical Science , King's College School , London. 
Every one in this place must be aware of the mode of preparation, and the 
properties of castor oil. The seeds of llicinus communis are boiled and pressed, 
or simply pressed without boiling, forming, in the latter case, what is called 
cold-drawn castor oil. During many years the supply of the oil to this country 
was almost entirely from the East Indies* (from Bombay and Calcutta). The 
price was low and the oil good, both as to colour and taste. I have on the table 
a very fine specimen from the India Museum, furnished to me through the kind¬ 
ness of Dr. Forbes AVatson. Small quantities of castor oil have been sent to 
this country from New York, the West Indies, and Australia, and some houses 
in this country have imported the seeds from the East Indies, and have drawn 
their own oil by pressure. 
We still procure large quantities of the oil from the East Indies, but that 
country has now a rival, threatening to become formidable, much nearer home. 
In the International Exhibition Italy had a great show of castor oils. One firm 
at Legano is said to produce 45 tons of oil every year, the produce of about 120 
tons of seed. At this establishment, presided over by M. Valeri, the machinery 
for cleaning and sorting the seeds, the hydraulic presses, and the filtering appa¬ 
ratus, are said to be well arranged. The oil cake is in great demand as a manure 
for hemp. The oil is also used for burning, and in some places for making soap, 
this oil saponifying more easily than olive oil. 
* The castor-oil plant is cultivated all over India for domestic use, chiefly for burning. The 
oil is extracted by bruising the seed, boiling in water, and skimming. 
