374 
Pharmacy  and  Chemistry. 
(  A.VQ.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I      August,  1904. 
Halving  the  nut,  the  white  meat  is  removed ;  this  is  either  grated 
and  dried,  thus  forming  the  familiar  shreds  used  by  the  confectioner, 
or  the  halved  meats  are  dried  and  sold  as  "coprah"  to  firms  in 
Marseilles  and  London,  which  extract  the  valued  cocoanut  oil  by 
either  solvents  or  pressure. 
The  native  is  not  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  an  oil  is  hidden  in  the 
white  meats,  for  oil  of  Cingalese  manufacture  and  even  a  model  of 
an  oil  mill  is  shown  in  this  exhibit.  Of  course  this  mill  looks  very 
primitive.  Imagine  a  very  large  bell-shaped  mortar  of  wood,  having 
inserted  therein  a  formidable  pestle ;  to  this  latter  a  heavy  timber  is 
firmly  spiked,  making  an  angle  of  6o°  therewith ;  this  is  in  turn 
attached  to  another  timber  by  means  of  a  metallic  hinge.  This 
third  timber  is  spiked  to  a  long,  heavy  beam  that  presses  firmly 
against  the  contracted  portion  of  the  mortar.  Bullocks  are  hitched 
to  the  free  end  of  this  horizontal  beam  and  furnish  the  slow  but 
sure  motive  power.  A  very  effective  rotary  and  sliding  motion 
results,  and,  as  the  cocoanut  oil  is  liquid  at  the  temperatures  that 
prevail  in  Ceylon,  the  oil  is  continually  tapped. 
The  pressed  cake  is  much  used  as  a  very  valuable  stock  feed. 
Returning  to  our  tree,  this  often  attains  a  height  of  100  feet  and 
may  live  to  be  120  years  of  age.  Such  a  tree  is  a  straight  trunk 
crowned  with  a  tuft  of  leaves.  These  leaves  have  a  sweep  of  1 5  to 
20  feet  along  the  midrib ;  from  this  outward  leaflets,  2  to  4  feet  long 
and  2  inches  broad,  grow.  The  midribs  are  used  as  bristles  for 
brooms,  while  the  leaflets  crossed  form  very  effective  lattice-work 
screens  and  partitions. 
The  tree  trunk  makes  excellent  lumber,  being  not  hard  to  work, 
taking  an  excellent  polish,  and  with  its  light-brown  color,  splashed 
with  the  darker-colored  veins,  makes  elegant  furniture. 
So  we  see  this  one  plant  furnishes  shelter,  raiment,  food,  drink 
and  even  light  to  the  native,  for  he  uses  the  oil  in  his  lamp. 
While  the  cocoanut  is  with  the  culture  of  tea  the  most  important, 
still,  cinnamon  is  usually  recalled  whenever  Ceylon  is  mentioned, 
and  every  one  knows  it  to  be  the  finest  in  flavor  and  odor.  This 
cinnamon  is  shown  in  large  bales  3  feet  high  and  a  foot  in  diameter. 
When  the  Dutch  controlled  the  spice  trade  of  the  world,  they  burnt 
the  rest  of  the  previous  crop  when  the  new  supply  came  in ;  thus 
they  kept  up  both  the  quality  as  well  as  the  price.  Ceylon  cinna- 
mon in  those  days  sold  at  £$  sterling.   The  chips  used  by  the  vola- 
