20 TiMEHRl. 
There is one nut, the Candle-nut, Aleurites triloba, 
which, produced in Fiji, Ceylon and elsewhere, yields 55 
to 62 per cent, of its weight in oil. This tree has been 
introduced into some of the West Indian Islands, and 
doubtless would grow well here. 
Castor-oil is good as a lubricant for heavy machinery, 
but will in time yield to petroleum and shale oils. It 
has a peculiar and unique property, (besides its aperient 
qualities), of being perfeftly soluble in alcohol at ordi- 
nary temperatures, which causes it to be largely used in 
the manufafture of Brilliantine and other hair dressings* 
For soap making it has a special value, and is indispen- 
sable in the manufa6lure of cheap transparent soaps. Mr. 
FIELD, who, by the way, is a maker of soaps on a large 
scale, and, moreover, one of our best practical chemists, 
while admitting that these soaps cannot be recommended, 
as an excess of caustic soda is required, and that the smell 
of the castor-oil becomes apparent in a few weeks, says 
their brilliant lustre and scouring properties possess 
great attractions for natives. Perhaps it was some such 
preparation that made the bishop of Wangaloo white, 
as is represented in certain illustrated advertisements. 
Mr. FlELD goes on to say that it is a matter of 
surprise that with cocoanuts and castor-oil seeds to be 
had almost for the picking, these soaps are not made 
in Ceylon and the West Indies, where spirit is easily 
and cheaply obtained, where sugar (an important adul- 
terant) is plentiful, and where, above all, essential oils 
abound. We know that in Trinidad there is a soap 
manufactory, but the qualities shewn were fl poor, com- 
" posed of ' weak fats' and * much resin' — of a dark 
11 colour and alkaline, and indicating a large excess of 
