October 19,1872.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTION?. 
305 
water—cool, sparkling, and light. The ApoUinaHs is 
remarkable for the tenacity of its aeration, so that, how¬ 
ever exposed, it does not get flat. The St. Gcdmier is 
simply delicious. The * Condillac , described on the 
label as “ la reine des eaux de table” seems to be in great 
favour at Smyrna, Alexandria, and Gibraltar, and is a 
palatable, refreshing water. The Schwalheim water is 
highly diuretic; more so, it appears to me, than those of 
JSms and Fachingen , as imported. If I may venture to 
advise my medical brethren, it would be to study these 
waters as they would so many kinds of wine, and the 
only available way is to have a few bottles and drink 
them. They would then know instinctively what 
patients each was likely to suit. 
The above waters are alkaline and aerated, containing 
chiefly bicarbonates of soda and lime, with minute 
quantities of common salt, iron, etc. But iron itself, in 
my judgment (if it is, according to the prevalent hypo¬ 
thesis, to act on the blood, and not merely as an astrin¬ 
gent on the digestive mucous membrane, which is the 
truer explanation of its modus opcrandi ), is best 
given at meals. A few drops of tincture of steel in a 
glass of cold water is not to be despised, but it has not 
the subtlety and virtue of a really good aerated iron 
water. The Spa water is hard, heavy, and headachy. 
As for the cold, flat English waters, as those of Tun¬ 
bridge Wells, etc., practitioners on the spot generally 
prefer to give steel as a medicine. But of steel waters 
fit for table use at mealtimes there are three chief ones. 
The Orezza I have recommended to several patients 
labouring under diseases of chronic debility, who have 
described it as very exhilarating and tonic; the Sc/nval- 
bach, less alkaline, highly invigorating ; and the Bussang 
(which is said also to contain arsenic) may be recom¬ 
mended to any patient who likes to take his food and 
his physic at one operation.— Medical Times and Gazette. 
THE ADULTERATION OF PALM OIL.* 
BY CHARLES A. CAMERON, PH.D., M.D. 
Analyst to the City of Dublin. 
The fatty substance known by the name of palm oil 
is obtain from the pulp of the fruit of the Flais guincen- 
sis. Its colour is bright orange, and its odour somewhat 
resembles that of violets. It consists of a mixture of 
liquid and solid fats, and its consistency is, at 60 degrees 
Fahrenheit, about that of butter. The solid fat—the 
most abundant ingredient—is termed palmitin, and is a 
compound of palmitic acid with the hydrocarbon of 
glycerine. Palm oil is easily saponified, and enormous 
quantities of it are imported into the United Kingdom 
(chiefly from the west coast of Africa), to be employed in 
the manufacture of soap. This fat is also largely used in 
the manufacture of candles, and of compounds used for 
lubricating machinery. When fresh, palm oil melts at 
80'6 degrees Fahr.; but after some time its fusing point 
lises to about 100 degs. Fahr. 
Palm oil, hardened by the addition of tallow, is the 
material chiefly employed for the purpose of lubricating 
the wheels of railway carriages. Some railway com¬ 
panies pay several thousand pounds per annum for palm 
oil. _ The purity of this article is, therefore, a matter of 
considerable commercial importance. I presume that 
soap boilers, who are the chief consumers of this fat, are 
well able to judge of its purity, and are not likely to 
have an adulterated article palmed off upon them; but 
the managers of railways, whose attention is occupied 
by so many different matters, often, if not invariably, 
purchase, as pure palm oil, an article containing from 
25 to 90 per cent, of foreign matter. 
Some time ago the manager of the Midland Great 
Western Railway Company of Ireland sent me some 
* Read at a Meeting of the Anti-Adulteration Society of 
Irealnd. 
specimens of palm oil and other greases for examination, 
and I was surprised to find in each of them a large amount 
of water. The following table contains the results of 
the analyses of these samples, and of a few others which 
I procured from different sources:— 
Composition of Balm Oil and Waggon Grease. 
100 parts of each contained— 
No. 
Name under wliieh the 
grease was sold. 
•8PM 
Tar and matters 
insoluble in 
Ether. 
Mineral matter. 
1 
Water. 
Total. 
1 
Palm oil. 
96-60 
0-78 
0-22 
2-40 
100 00 
2 
Do. 
97*00 
1-40 
0-44 
1.16 
100-00 
3 
Do. 
33-40 
6-30 
0-08 
60-22 
100-00 
4 
Do. . 
25-13 
599 
0-08 
68-80 
100-00 
5 
Do. 
39.00 
3.40 
0T2 
57-48 
100-00 
6 
Best do. 
50-31 
6-99 
o-io 
42-60 
100-00 
7 
Best Waggon grease ... 
74-64 
20-12 
3-12 
4-12 
100-00 
8 
Sir Wm. Rose’s Infusible 
Waggon grease. 
69-43 
11-23 
1-40 
17-94 
100* 001 
9 
Palm oil. 
10-11 
1580 
0-66 
73-42 
100-00' 
10 
Do. 
19-21 
6 89 
0 32 
73-58 
100-00 
No. 1 and No. 2 were obtained from the establishments 
of Messrs. M‘Master, Hodgson and Co., Capel Street, 
and Leslie and Co., Bride Street, Dublin, wholesale 
druggists. The other specimens were sold or offered 
for sale to railway companies and other large consumers 
of lubricating grease. No. 7 and No. 8 contained a 
large proportion of tarry matter; and neither melted at 
a temperature of 160 degs. Fahr., showing that tallow 
entered largely into their composition. Two of the 
samples of palm oil appeared to contain horse grease 
coloured with annatto. 
It is surprising how large a quantity of water could 
have been incorporated into Nos. 3, 4, 5, 9, and 10. The 
latter two contained very nearly three-fourths of their 
weight of water, whilst in pure palm oil there is only from 
one to three per cent, of moisture. Of really effective 
matter for lubricating purposes, No. 9 contained only 
ten per cent. 
The following are the prices at which some of the 
more commonly used fats are at present sold per ton :— 
Palm oil, from.£37 to £40. 
Cocoanut oil ..... . £32 to £36. 
Cotton Seed oil.£26. 
Horse grease.£32. 
Australian tallow . . . . £38 to £43. 
Best tallow.£52. 
The adulterated palm oil above referred to was sold 
at a much lower price than the genuine article commands, 
but still at prices considerably above their actual value. 
I believe the lowest price asked for any of the specimens 
of grease, the composition of which is given in the table, 
was £26 per ton. The actual money value of No. 10 
could not have been more than £12 per ton at the 
very highest estimate. 
Considerable injury must be occasioned to the u wear¬ 
ing parts ” of the wheels of locomotive engines, and rail¬ 
way waggons, and carriages by the use of such spurious 
stuff as Nos. 3, 4, 5, 9, and 10 in the above table. If 
lubricated with such a poor material, the steel or hard 
parts of the wheels and axles would soon become highly 
heated, and after a time permanently soft. In extreme 
cases the metallic parts might become red hot by the 
continuous friction of dry surfaces. Under such circum¬ 
stances, an accident might probably occur. Fortunately, 
the railway people generally prepare themselves a lubu- 
ricating compound, by mixing palm oil with tallow; 
but even this mixture may prove to a great extent in¬ 
operative, if palm oil containing 70 or 75 per cent, of 
water forms the greater part of the mixture. 
