O iz 
PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY, EDINBURGH. 
sively used, not only in Brazil but in most parts of South America and the West Indies. 
It is obtained from the kernels of carapa nuts, the fruit of Carapa guianensis, Natural 
Order Meliciceaz. Wherever it is known, it has a great reputation as an external application 
for rheumatic pains and as a vermifuge, besides which, notwithstanding its rather dis¬ 
agreeable odour, it is in great repute as a pomade, having the property of preventing pre¬ 
mature greyness and baldness. No proper analysis of this oil has been puhlished, but 
its properties probably reside in some peculiar bitter principle, as the oil has a strong 
bitter taste; besides its medicinal virtues if is much used for oiling steel and iron arti¬ 
cles, as it is held to be a remarkable preservative from rust. There is a liquid andiroba 
oil, but how it is obtained or what its especial qualities are is not known. 
Cumaru Oil .—This is obtained from the seeds called Tonquin or Tonka Beans, the 
produce of the one-seeded legumes of Dipterix odorcita. It is of two kinds, one solid 
and the other liquid. The former is obtained by crushing and boiling the seeds, by 
which the oil is liberated, and when the water is cold it is removed in a solid state, re¬ 
melted and clarified. The liquid oil is procured by expressing the sesds ; both are used in 
perfumery and for ulcerations of the mouth and lips ; but for the perfumer the liquid oil 
is much the more valuable, as it contains most of the active principle of the seed, coumarin. 
This peculiar organic principle is not confined to the Tonquin bean, but is found in the 
Woodruff and Melilot, and gives its delicious odour to our hay-fields, through the 
vernal grass Anthoxanthum odoratum. It is easily obtained from the Tonquin bean by 
alcoholic digestion, and it is abundantly deposited in fine needle-shaped crystals in the 
liquid oil; its composition, according to Miller, is C IS H G 0 4 , its melting-point is 122°, 
and its boiling-point 518° ; if boiled with nitric acid, it forms first nitro-coumarin 
C 18 tI r N0 4 0 4 , but if boiled too long it passes into carbazotic acid, HO,C 12 , H 2 N0 4 0 3 . If 
boiled with a concentrated solution of hydrate of potash, it is converted into coumaric 
acid combined with potash. This change is effected by its assimilation of the elements 
of water in the hydrate. 
Alligator Oil , Olio de Jacare .—This is expressed or melted from the adipose tissue of 
the alligator. It has a strong nauseous smell. It is considered a powerful remedy, 
used as a liniment in rheumatism; its other uses in Brazil are for burning in common 
lamps, and for mixing with hydraulic cement. 
Mantega Oil or Turtle Oil , obtained from the eggs of the turtle called Emys 
scabra, is procured in great abundance from the eggs deposited by the animals to be 
hatched in the warm sands of the islands of the Amazon. The quantity yielded by each 
annual turtle-egg harvest is estimated at from 25,000 to 30,000 gallons. Each collector 
takes a boat to the haunts of the turtle, and the eggs as they are collected are thrown 
into the boat and smashed by trampling on them. The heat of the sun soon causes 
decomposition, and the oil separates and floats on the top of the putrescent and stinking 
mass, from which it is skimmed off and filled into jars; the chief use of the oil is for 
cooking, instead of butter, by the poorer classes. But it is generally used as a cure for 
rheumatism by external rubbing. 
Oil of Sassafras .—This is a beautiful essential oil of the nature of turpentine, ob¬ 
tained from the bark and wood of Nectandra Cymbarum , it has an agreeable camphora- 
ceous odour, and is much used as a rubefacient in rheumatic affections. It would be 
very desirable to ascertain if it could be supplied to this country as a large article of 
commerce during the present high price of turpentine, as it is even a better solvent of 
many gums, and would be of great value to the painters and varnish-makers. 
The Puchury nuts or Sassafras nuts used for flavouring chocolate, etc., are the cotyle¬ 
dons of the seeds of another species of Nectandra, N. Puchury. 
A vote of thanks to Professor Archer, proposed by Mr. Aitken and seconded by Mr. 
Stephenson, was enthusiastically passed. 
Specimens of four varieties of dried flowers for scenting teas, from Canton, were 
presented from the Society in London for the Museum in Edinburgh. 
The Report of Committee appointed at last meeting, on the use of means to protect 
poison-bottles in dispensing, was promised at the next meeting. 
