1020 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[Jane 15, 1872. 
that objectionable smell which cocoanut oil has, and 
gives a good light without injuring the lamp. It is used 
also as a drastic purgative. At Nukahiva the nuts are 
skewered together for lighting at night. The first burns 
for about ten minutes and communicates to the others, 
so that a row of 24 will last for about four hours. In 
the Marquesas and other islands, however, this mode 
of illumination is giving place to whale oil, purchased 
from the whale ships. 
In the history of the ‘Mutiny of the Bounty' it was 
stated that the rooms in Pitcairn’s Island were lighted 
up by torches made of doodoe-nuts (. Aleurites triloba ), 
strung upon the fibres of a palm leaf, forming a good 
substitute for candles. These nuts are also so strung 
and used by the San Bias Indians in Central America, 
and a child is in attendance to knock off each nut as it 
becomes burnt out. 
By an hydraulic pressure of 20 horse-power, 60 per 
cent, of oil can be obtained from the kernel of these 
nuts, but the shell has to be removed by heat or steam, 
being exceedingly hard to crush. One hundred kilo¬ 
grammes of the nuts yield 33 of the kernels, and 100 
kilogrammes of these, with proper pressure, will yield 
fully 66 per cent, of oil. The marc or oil-cake left is 
good for feeding cattle, or for manure. There is a 
species indigenous to the Eastern Archipelago ( A . malac- 
censis ), the oil of which is said to be used for culinary 
purposes in Java, which results, probably, from a more 
careful mode of preparation. 
In China another species of Aleurites ( A . cordata), 
known as the Tungshu-tree, yields such an abundance of 
oil that it is said to be one of the largest products of the 
province of Szechuen. In point of quality it is inferior 
to that of the camellia, but it is very extensively used 
for lighting purposes. The natives call it Tung-oil. 
Beech-nuts, the seed or fruit of Fagus sylvaticus , serve 
to feed swine on now in forests; but before the general 
cultivation of cereals they were, like acorns, the food of 
uncivilized men. Dried and ground into meal, they 
make a wholesome bread ; roasted, they form a tolerable 
substitute for coffee. A clear, yellow, inodorous oil is 
obtained from them in France ; a bushel of beech-mast 
will produce about a gallon of oil, or the yield may be 
said to be 12 to 15 per cent of oil. In some parts of the 
Continent this oil is used instead of butter for culinary 
purposes. In the reign of George I. a petition was pre¬ 
sented, praying letters patent for making butter from 
beech-nuts. It is a pity some wholesome vegetable fat 
cannot be brought into commerce in the present day, 
when butter is so dear and so bad. A beech-oil com¬ 
pany was one of the most noted commercial speculations 
of Queen Anne’s reign. 
In Brazil the fruit of Myristica bieuhiba (Schott) yield 
a concrete oil, of a brown colour, which is employed in 
cases of asthma, rheumatism, tumours, etc. 
A good quantity of the small oil nutmegs ( Virola 
sebifera ) have lately been imported. The seeds, bruised 
and pressed, by heat give 26 per cent, of a substance 
entirely soluble in potash water, fusible at 34'5, and 
composed of two parts of oil, one neutral and the other 
acid, the last forming about three-fourths of the mass. 
The neutral part, having glycerine for its base, forms a 
solid soap with soda. This oil is well adapted for 
candles. It is very abundant in Guiana, and deserves 
the attention of business men. 
Physic-nut is a name for the seed in the capsules of 
Curcas purgans and Q. multifidus , which furnish an oil 
used for lighting and in medicine. 
It has the same qualities and uses as croton oil, and in 
large ^ doses is a dangerous poison. The oil is largely 
used in Indian camps. It is odourless, of a deep yellow, 
and viscous, but burns well. When cold, it deposits a 
considerable quantity of stearine; density *918. It is 
largely produced in the Cape Yerd Islands, from whence 
nearly 300,000 bushels are annually shipped. 
{To be continued.) 
Iprlameittag uni fain |]mailings. 
HOUSE OF COMMONS. 
Friday , June 7th , 1872. 
The Juries Bill. 
On the application of the Attorney-General, it was 
ordered that the Select Committee on the Juries Bill 
have power to send for persons, papers and records ; and 
that the report of the Select Committees on Special and 
Common Juries in 1867 and 1868, and on the Juries 
Bill in 1870, be referred to them. 
Adulteration of Food, Drugs, etc., Bill. 
The Committee on this Bill has been deferred till 
Wednesday, July 3rd. 
The Public Health Bill. 
These Bills, the Committees on which were set down 
for Monday last, did not come on that day, and up to 
the present time there is no further allusion to them on 
the notice papers. 
Poisoning by Oxalic Acid contained in 
Black Draughts. 
With reference to the case of poisoning by oxalic acid 
reported under the above head, at p. 1003, of last week’s 
Journal, we have received a reclamation from Mr. A. J. 
Stedman, of 18, Castle Street, New Peckham. He states 
that he was the former proprietor of the shop in ques¬ 
tion, from whom Dr. Trail purchased it. But he expresses 
his surprise that it should have been represented that 
the draughts were the last of the stock purchased from 
him, since the quantity of black draught left by him,— 
which was not put up in bottles for sale, but was the 
remnant of a quantity kept for immediate use,—was not 
sufficient to supply seven months’ demand ; in fact, was 
not more than enough for a week. Moreover, as no 
spirit was used in making it, he considers that it would 
long since have become unfit for use. 
O 
Suicide by Battle’s Vermin Killer. 
On Sunday night, May 26th, a young woman named 
Mary Winnall, residing at Clatter Batch, committed 
suicide by taking a quantity of “ Battle’s Vermin Killer.” 
It appears that she had been for a walk, and on return¬ 
ing home went to Mr. Hughes’s, chemist, and bought a 
packet of “ vermin killer,” went home and took a portion 
of it, and died in a short time after. Two medical gentle¬ 
men w'ere called in, but their services were of no avail. 
At the inquest Mr. G. Birt, M.R.C.S., said he was called 
to see the deceased, and found her in spasms, as if suffer¬ 
ing from strychnine poison. He tried restoratives, but they 
proved of no avail. He had since analysed the powder 
produced, and found strychnine, and it contained suffi¬ 
cient to cause death. The (death of deceased was caused 
by strychnine. 
G. Darrell, assistant to Mr. Hughes, chemist, said that 
on Sunday night the deceased came to the shop from 
half-past nine to ten, and asked for a packet of “ Battle’s 
Vermin Killer,” and he sold her a sixpenny packet. 
Deceased was quite collected, and not at all excited. The 
word “ poison” was on the outside packet. 
Evidence was also given that deceased had a “ queer 
temper,” and that she had said, on parting from her 
sweetheart, that he would never see her alive again; 
but no motive could be attributed for her committing 
suicide. 
After a short consultation, the Jury found that “De¬ 
ceased committed suicide while in a state of temporary 
insanity.”— Stourbridge Observer. 
