208 
ON  KICINUS  COMMUNIS. 
found  in  the  fruit  ;  and  the  seeds  of  fifteen  varieties  of  the  order, 
that  have  been  examined,  all,  excepting  one,  the  Oraphalia  trian- 
dra  of  St.  Domingo,  yielded  virtues  of  an  emeto-cathartic  nature. 
Some  of  these  plants  furnish  properties  highly  valuable,  on  ac- 
count of  their  medicinal  uses,  and  first  among  them  ranks  the 
Ricinus  communis,  as  it  yields  an  oil  that  is  used  to  an  immense 
extent,  not  only  in  domestic  practice,  but  is  sanctioned  by  the 
medical  profession  as  a  most  invaluable  laxative  and  mild  purga- 
tive. 
The  fleshy  portion  of  the  bean,  in  the  analysis  of  Geiger,  (which 
was  the  only  one  to  be  found,)  is  given  as  consisting  principally 
of  starch  ;  but  all  attempts  to  obtain  a  blue  color  with  iodine  failed. 
From  this  circumstance,  and  the  fact  of  the  beans  forming  an 
emulsion  with  cold  wrater,  it  was  inferred  that  they  contained  a 
peculiar  albuminous  principle  analogous  to  that  existing  in 
almonds;  further  experiment  verified  this.  A  product  resembling 
emulsin  was  obtained  by  making  an  emulsion  of  the  beans  with 
water,  adding  to  this  twice  its  bulk  of  ether,  and  after  frequent 
agitation  allowing  it  to  stand,  when  a  transparent  fluid  separated 
at  the  bottom  of  the  vessel  ;  this  was  separated  from  the  super- 
natant ethereal  mixture,  and  alcohol  added,  which  threw  down  a 
precipitate  white  and  flocculent ;  this  was  collected  upon  a  filter, 
and  washed  with  fresh  portions  of  alcohol,  and  dried  under  the  re- 
ceiver of  an  air-pump.  This  product  was  soluble  in  water,  the 
solution  reddening  litmus  paper,  and  when  heated  to  212°  coagu- 
lated. But  its  most  distinctive  property  was  its  producing  the 
decomposition  of  amygdalin,  yielding  the  odor  of  bitter  almonds 
and  hydrocyanic  acid,  but  not  in  so  marked  a  degree  as  the  emul- 
sin of  almonds,  although  upon  mixing  the  solutions,  and  allowing 
them  to  stand  for  a  few  days,  the  bitter  almond  odor  was  fully 
developed. 
When  an  emulsion  of  the  beans  is  made,  a  peculiar  nauseous 
odor  is  given  off,  which,  before  the  addition  of  the  water,  is  not 
in  the  least  perceptible  in  the  bean;  this  odor  is  more  fully  de- 
veloped by  maceration  and  distillation  with  water  ;  and  with  water 
rendered  slightly  alkaline  by  potassa,  the  uncondensed  vapor  had 
a  most  nauseating  smell,  producing  absolute  sickness  of  the  sto- 
mach in  an  individual  previously  vomited  by  the  seeds. 
The  emulsion  becomes  incapable  of  giving  off  this  smell  when 
