388 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. [November 16,1872. 
throwing out leaves and tranches, until April or May, 
when, with as little disturbance as possible of the roots, 
they are "taken up, and, after being trimmed to a single 
sprout, are set out in the orchard, in rows about twenty- 
five feet apart each way. The ground between the 
trees may be cultivated for several years, with little or 
no detriment to the young trees. When the olives are 
to he gathered, cloths are spread under the trees, and 
the berries are pulled from their branches by hand and 
thrown upon the ground, or are beaten off with a long- 
rod. If they are intended for making oil, they are 
carried to a dry room or loft and scattered upon the 
floor, or, where this is not convenient, a drying frame 
is made—consisting of broad shelves one above another, 
and sliding in and out as the drawers of a bureau— 
and the berries are spread upon the shelves. By this 
exposure to a dry in-door atmosphere, the berries ripen 
further, their watery juices are evaporated, the oil is 
released, and, when the skins have been broken, flows 
more readily under pressure. A slight mould may gather 
upon the berries during the few days that they remain 
here, but not sufficient to have an injurious effect upon 
the oil, or it may be prevented entirely by stirring the 
berries daily. 
The process of extracting the oil, as practised in 
Santa Barbara, is simple, even to mediaeval rudeness. 
A large, broad stone wheel is held by an arm from a 
centre post, and, by a horse attached to this arm, is 
made to traverse a circular bed of solid stone. The 
berries are thrown upon this stone bed, and are shovelled 
constantly in the line of the moving wheel until they 
are considerably mashed, but not thoroughly or until 
the stones are broken. This process finished, the pulp 
is w-rapped in coarse cloths or gunny sacks, and placed 
under a rude, home-made screw or lever press. The 
oil and juices, as they ooze through the cloth or sacks, 
flow into a small tank, and, as they increase, are dis¬ 
tributed into other vessels, from the surface of which 
the oil is afterwards skimmed. The oil flowing from 
this first pressure is what is known as “virgin oil,” 
and commands the highest price from connoisseurs of 
the table. Without further preparation the oil is now 
ready for use, except that, in order that any intrusive 
matter may be separated from the body of the oil and 
collected at the bottom of the oil cask or jar previous 
to bottling, it is set away for a time to rest. At the 
Mission of Santa Barbara, the oil is stored in huge an¬ 
tique pottery jars, that, ranged round the room, remind 
one of the celebrated scene of the jars in the story of 
‘The Forty Thieves.’ The “second-class oil” is the 
result of a second and more thorough crushing of the 
berries, in which even the stones are broken, and of a 
subsequent subjection of the pulp to the press. The 
berries are sometimes submitted even to a third process 
of crushing, and previous to pressure, are brought to a 
boiling-heat in huge copper kettles. The oil thus ob¬ 
tained is of an inferior quality, and is sold for use as a 
lubricator, and also as an ingredient in the manufacture 
of castile and fancy toilet soaps, and for other purposes 
for which it is superior to animal oil. The residue of the 
berries is then returned to the orchard and scattered 
under the trees, and possessing the qualities of a rich 
and rapid fertilizer, may be said to be yielded to us 
again revivified and luscious in the richer fruitage of 
succeeding years. 
The tree, at five years of age, returns a slight recom¬ 
pense for care; and at seven an orchard should afford 
an average yield of about twenty gallons of berries to a 
tree. If there are seventy trees to an acre, there should 
he obtained from it one thousand four hundred gallons 
of berries. From twenty gallons of berries may be ex¬ 
tracted three gallons of oil; and, if properly manufac¬ 
tured, olive oil will command four to five dollars a gallon 
at wholesale. Thus, an average yield of olives, derived 
from an orchard covering one acre of land, will produce 
about 800 dollars worth of oil. After deducting the 
entire cost of production and manufacture, a net profit 
may' be anticipated of at least two dollars per gallon ; 
and thus, one acre, containing seventy trees, yielding* 
an average of twenty gallons of berries, or the equiva¬ 
lent of three gallons of oil each, will afford a surplus 
above all expenses of about 400 dollars a y r ear. 
Olive culture is so simple that any' one of ordinary' in¬ 
telligence may engage in it. The process of manufac¬ 
turing the oil is an entirely' different business, and be¬ 
longs separately and apart from the cultivation of the 
olive. In time it will not be expected, as now, that 
each grower shall be manufacturer also. As soon as the 
supply of olives in a neighbourhood is sufficient to -war¬ 
rant the erection of suitable machinery' for expressing 
the oil, every' requisite for the purpose will be at hand. 
The olive grower’s labours for the season will end with 
the deposit of his berries at the oil manufactory'; and 
according to the custom of the olive districts of Europe, 
one half the oil from his berries will subsequently' be 
returned to him, ready' for use and for market. 
A large part of the oil sold in this country, and pur¬ 
porting to be olive oil of European manufacture, is the 
product of adulteration and imitation. It is generally 
manufactured in this country, and is composed princi- 
cipally' of animal oil, though mustard-seed oil and other 
inferior vegetable oils also form materials for its adultera¬ 
tion. Every housewife knows that olive oil pm-chased 
from the grocer, when exposed to a cold atmosphere, 
sometimes thickens and turns white or opaque in the 
lower part of the bottle ; and every one familiar with 
the nature of olive oil knows that it retains its perfect 
transparency and uniform oily' consistence under any' 
temperatxire. Animal oil condenses under the influence- 
of cold; but vegetable oil does not.* This difference 
has been well noted on the shelves of stores where the 
genuine and the adulterated oil have been ranged for 
sale, side by side. The genuine oil glows clear be¬ 
neath the glass in all weathers; the adulterated oil 
turns flaky w-ith the cold, and the lard goes down with 
the fall of the winter’s thermometer. It is an advan¬ 
tage, also, of the genuine “ virgin oil,” obtained by 
home manufacture, that it retains its perfect sweetness 
longer than any other oil. “ Virgin oil,” made at the 
Santa Barbara Mission four y'ears ago, is to-day in pos¬ 
session of the nice delicacy of its first flavour when fresh 
from the berries .—Scientific American. 
RESEARCHES ON THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION OF 
KINIC ACID ; REDUCTION OF FERRIC CHLORIDE 
IN THE ORGANISM.f 
BY M. BABUTEAU. 
Panic acid agrees in its action with citric and tartaric 
acids, and has no active properties peculiar to itself. Its 
alkaline salts have no taste, and, like those of other 
organic acids, are converted into carbonates in the body*. 
They cause constipation when injected into the blood, 
and would probably be purgative if introduced in suffi¬ 
cient quantity into the alimentary canal. Ferric chlo¬ 
ride is readily reduced by organic substances. To this 
reduction is due the blue stain which is produced on the 
hands after using ferric salts or potassium ferrocy'anide. 
The author considers that ferric salts are reduced to 
ferrous in the stomach, and are absorbed as such, and 
that -when ferric chloride has been injected into a varicose 
vein to a coagulate the blood, the coagulum which it at 
first produces afterwards disappears, because the ferric 
salt is converted into a ferrous salt which hinders the 
coagulation of the blood instead of inducing it. 
* Pure olive oil separates granular crystals below 10° C. 
(50° F.), consisting of palmitin.—Ed. Amer. J. Pliarm. 
f Compt. Rend., lxxv. 219-221, and Journal of Chemical. 
Society. 
