June 22, 1872.J 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
103r 
|)tatetogs of Scientific Societies* 
SOCIETY OF ARTS. 
April 24, 1872. 
Nuts, tiieir Produce and Uses. 
BY B. L. SIMMONDS. 
(Concluded from page 1020.) 
Turnery Nuts and Ornamental Seeds. 
Of nuts for turnery and ornament there are not many 
received in this country, hut a few have some degree of 
commercial importance, and one or two others may he 
incidentally noticed. 
Our continental neighbours seem to he more shrewd 
and clever than we are in applying nuts and seeds to 
purposes of personal decoration; and although, from 
being cheap, many of these ornaments are despised by 
our belles, yet none can deny their interest and beauty 
and the ingenuity and taste with which they are ar¬ 
ranged. The field is an exhaustless one, and many 
well-known ornamental nuts and seeds of India and 
South America have not yet made their appearance in 
this country. 
The vegetable ivory nuts of commerce, corosso-nuts 
as they are usually termed, and tagua by the Indians of 
Magdalena, are the fruit of the Phytelephas macrocarpa 
R South American palm. The fruit, a collection of from 
six to seven drupes, forms clusters which are as large 
tvs a man’s head, and stands at first erect, but when 
approaching maturity, its weight increasing, and the 
leaf-stalks, which up to that period supported the bulky 
mass, having rotted away, it hangs down, and the 
creeping caudex is seldom higher than six feet. A plant 
bears at one time from six to eight of these heads, each 
weighing, when ripe, about twenty-four pounds. The 
drupes are covered outside with hard woody protube¬ 
rances. Each contains from six to nine seeds, but gene¬ 
rally seven. From the kernels (the hardened albumen) 
the European turners fashion the knobs of walking- 
sticks, the reels of spindles, small boxes, and various 
little toys. It is of the same nature as the nutmeg and 
the pulp of the cocoanut, which in some palms becomes 
more hardened. That of the date, the liaphia via if era, 
the talipat palm, and others, is quite as hard, but it is 
neither large enough nor white enough to be of use to 
the turner. In contact with sulphuric acid, the vegetable 
ivory takes a splendid red colour, almost equal to ma¬ 
genta. This colour, at fiist pink, then bright red, be¬ 
comes much deeper and more purple when the acid has 
been allowed to act for about twelve hours. 
The demand for vegetable ivory nuts is largely on the 
increase for button-making and other purposes ; as much 
as a ton a day is frequently worked up in Birmingham. 
In 1870 we received 31,430 cwt., valued at about 
£ 20 , 000 . 
The waste and shavings of this nut furnish a good 
charcoal, which is utilized by some chemists. A para¬ 
graph has lately been going the round of the papers, 
stating that the turnings and raspings of the nut are 
used to adulterate ground bones ; but this I much ques¬ 
tion, as they could scarcely be obtained in quantity. 
The value of the other nuts imported for turning, etc., 
besides the vegetable ivory nuts, is about £20,000. 
The coquilla-nut, the produce of Attalea fun if era, one 
of the palms which yield the piassaba fibre of commerce, 
is another ornamental turning-nut, but of a dark maho¬ 
gany colour. The supplies of this, however, from South 
America have been failing, owing to the indiscriminate 
destruction of the trees, and the nut3 imported lately 
have been small and immature, and therefore not appre¬ 
ciated and useful. The cohune-nut, from another 
species of the same palm, can also be turned into little 
articles. In Bogota they have small nuts, exceedingly 
hard, called toparos, which are often made into tinder- 
boxes, adorned with silver. 
The seeds of the slireetaly, or talipat-palm (Qoryplicc 
umbraculifera ), being a species of vegetable ivory, are 
turned into marbles, beads used by certain sects of 
Hindoos, button-moulds, and various minute articles., 
Little bowls and other fancy ornaments are made from 
them, and when polished and coloured they are easily 
passed off for genuine coral. These nuts could be ob¬ 
tained in large quantities in Canara, Malabar, and other 
parts of India; the chief objection is that they are of 
such small size. 
The fruit of the doom-palm is turned into beads for 
rosaries, and in Africa is made into little oval-shaped 
cases for holding snuff". 
The betel-nut, the produce of the Areca catechu palm, 
may here be incidentally known, because it has been 
turned into ornamental articles, although its principal 
uses are for other purposes. Small quantities are im¬ 
ported for making tooth-powder and paste, and as a dog 
medicine; but in India a large commerce is carried on 
in this nut, chiefly as a masticatory; catechu is also, 
made from it. Betel-nuts are pale when mature, but 
dark coloured when collected and dried in an immature 
state, hence the distinction of red and w r hite nuts in the 
Eastern bazaars, the former being only half the value of 
the latter. About 4000 tons of these nuts are annually 
shipped from Ceylon to different quarters. At Travan* 
core the quantity grown is enormous: in Penang 3000 
tons are produced, and in Sumatra 4000 to 5000 tons. 
The nuts of various other palms have some few useful 
applications. The grugru-nuts, the seed of Acrocomia 
sclerocarpa, are turned and carved into very pretty beads, 
rings, and other small articles, the hard black texture of 
the nut taking a fine polish. 
The albuminous fruit of Raphia vinifera are carved, 
into little figures by the African negroes. 
Peach, cherry,, and other fruit stones are often seen 
carved and highly ornamented, and made into rosaries, 
bracelets, etc., evidencing the patience and skill of tho 
workman who has laboured on them. The hard stones, 
of the date-plum and other indigenous fruits are fre¬ 
quently beautifully and elaborately carved by the- 
Chinese and Japanese. 
Under the name of Qnandung-nuts, the corrugated 
seeds of the Australian native peach (Santalum acumi¬ 
natum) are often set and mounted for scarf-pins, brace¬ 
lets, and other ornaments. 
The spherical corrugated seeds of Elceocarpus ganitrus, 
and other species cleared of their soft pulp, are used by 
the Brahmin priests as beads. They are also made into 
necklaces and bracelets for ladies, which are much ad¬ 
mired, especially if gilded or capped with silver mount¬ 
ings. Those of Monocera tuberculata are used for a like 
purpose in Travancore. The nuts of Putrangiva Rox¬ 
burgh ii (the wild olive), called in Hindostan “ Jeeopatra,” 
are strung by the natives, and put round the necks of 
their children as an amulet. 
The seeds of the bladder-nut (Staphylca pinnata ) are 
as hard as bone. The nuts, in some parts of Europe, arc- 
threaded for paternosters, and made into necklaces and 
chaplets. They are also called cut-noses and false pis¬ 
tachios. The kernel has a little of the flavour of the 
pistachio, but is very acrid, and occasions nausea if eaten 
to any extent. It yields by expression a bland oil. 
Miscellaneous Nuts. 
Under this last group I may include those used for 
tanning 1 and other purposes. Among the tanning and 
dyeing nuts or seeds are valonia, under which name the 
large acorn cups of Quercwi cog Hops are imported from 
Turkey. The incipient acorns are called camata and 
camatina. In 18o9, 25,579 tons, valued at £332 527, 
wore imported; last year 27,706 tons, valued at £441,998, 
were received. Under the name of myrobalans, the 
dried fruit of some species of Terminatia, chiefly 1 - 
