54 
Current  Literature. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
^     January,  19 18. 
able  skill,  therefore,  is  said  to  be  needed  by  the  women  who  do  the 
cleaning,  in  order  to  find  and  throw  out  these  foreign  leaves.  If 
rain  falls  while  the  senna  is  being  sundried  in  the  districts  of  pro- 
duction, the  dried  leaf  turns  black,  and  these  also  must  be  removed 
when  the  senna  is  cleaned  for  export.  An  uncleaned  bale  often 
gives  less  than  half  a  bale  of  cleaned  and  picked  product  fit  for 
foreign  markets. 
Only  recently  has  it  become  an  article  of  export  to  Europe  and 
to  the  United  States,  although  small  quantities  occasionally  have 
gone  to  Egypt  and  to  India.  During  the  past  15  months  a  demand 
has  developed  in  the  United  States,  and  the  first  exports  of  senna 
recorded  at  this  consulate  were  shipped  during  the  second  quarter 
of  1916,  when  31,273  pounds,  valued  at  $7,946,  were  sent  to  Amer- 
ican importers.  During  the  third  quarter  of  191 6,  a  small  amount, 
valued  at  $1,613,  went  to  the  United  States.  The  next  shipments 
were  made  during  the  second  quarter  of  the  current  year,  and  they 
amounted  to  82,868  pounds,  valued  at  $42,407.  During  this  quarter 
senna  leaves  ranked  next  to  skins  in  the  value  of  Aden  exports  to 
the  United  States.  American  importers  apparently  are  paying 
fancy  prices  for  the  product. 
The  total  exports  of  all  commodities  to  the  United  States  during 
the  second  quarter  of  the  current  year  reached  a  value  of  $869,609, 
which  is  about  70  per  cent,  of  the  total  value  of  the  exports  during 
the  first  quarter  of  this  year. — Consul  Addison  E.  Southard,  Aden, 
Arabia,  July  2.    (From  Simmons's  "Spice  Mill.") 
Peanut-Oil  Manufacture  in  United  States. — According  to 
information  collected  during  June,  1917,  by  the  Bureau  of  the 
Census  cooperating  with  the  Bureau  of  Chemistry  of  the  U.  S. 
Department  of  Agriculture,  there  were  fifty  mills  in  the  United 
States  making  peanut  oil.  During  1916,  these  mills  produced  over 
twenty-six  million  pounds,  or  about  three  and  a  half  million  gallons 
of  peanut  oil.  In  addition  to  this  there  was  imported  a  little  over 
two  million  gallons,  making  the  total  consumption  of  peanut  oil  in 
this  country  over  five  million  gallons. 
Abroad,  practically  all  the  edible  peanut  oils  are  made  by  press- 
ing cold  the  shelled  nuts,  only  the  residue  from  these  cold  pressing 
being  cooked  and  hot  pressed.  The  third  or  fourth  grades  thus 
obtained  generally  have  been  used  for  technical  purposes.    In  the 
