Colonial Exhibition, 1886. 19 
colony. Cocoanut oil is used chiefly in England for soap 
and night lights. In the manufacture of candles it has 
been superseded by acidified palm oil. It gives a white 
and brilliant light, and articles made from it are more 
cleanly and tempting than those made from other 
materials. 
Cocoanut oil is largely used in soap making, but 
considerable prejudice exists against it on account of 
its rank and persistent odour. Its chief value appears 
to arise from the facility with which it can be adulterated. 
One of the tricks of the soap trade, it seems, is to crowd 
in silicate and carbonate of soda, sugar and water, and 
to hide any objectionable smell with mirbane and lemon- 
grass. 
The British Guiana cocoanut oil is described as very 
good and remarkably white, though slightly rancid and 
strong smelling. These, Mr. FIELD says, are " accidents 
of circumstance", and he is of opinion that there is no 
reason why Guiana should not vie with other colonies 
as an oil-producing country. 
The question is raised whether the kind of nut, and the 
method of cultivation may not have as much to do with 
the colour and odour of the oil as the mode of extraction, 
or perhaps more. This, it seems is the case with palm oil. 
Mr. FIELD mentions as an instance of the effeCt which 
difference of soil will make in the quality of oil, the case of 
lavender. English oil of lavender produced at Mitcham, 
in Surrey, commands more than six times the price of 
that from all the south of France. The same, he says, is 
true of rosemary and peppermint, and he suggests that 
the point whether a different cocoanut or a different soil 
be required, is worth attention. 
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