ON  THE  MEDICINAL  USE  OF  COCONUT  OIL. 
831 
Amylsolanine  and  its  salts  greatly  resemble  ethylsolanine  in 
their  physical  and  chemical  properties. 
JEthylamyholanine  is  obtained  by  the  reaction  of  iodide  of 
amyle  on  ethylsolanine,  or  iodide  of  ethyle  on  amylsolanine.  Its 
formula  is — 
C42  H32  (C4  H5)  (C10  H11)  N014=C56  H49  NO14. 
This  body  greatly  resembles  the  two  former  in  its  properties. 
It  would  be  interesting  to  push  these  substitutions  further,  and 
to  see  whether  a  third  equivalent  of  hydrogen  may  be  replaced 
by  a  radical;  but  the  want  of  materials  compelled  us  to  suspend 
this  work,  which  we  intend  to  resume,  in  order  to  arrive  at  the 
constitution  of  this  alkaloid  London  Chemist,  1857,  from 
Comptes  Eendus,  Nov.  11th,  1856. 
ON  THE  MEDICINAL  USE  OF  COCONUT  OIL. 
By  Mich.  Pettenkofer. 
It  is  known  that  vegetable  fats  are  much  less  apt  to  become 
rancid  than  animal  fats,  and  in  consequence  of  that  fact  the  oleum 
cocos,  cocoanut  oil,  was  several  years  ago  in  Munich  proposed  as 
a  substitute  for  lard.  Since  that  time  it  has  been  used  in  many 
preparations  and  was  found  to  answer  for  various  purposes. 
By  the  animal  heat  of  the  skin  it  easily  and  perfectly  liquefies, 
and  is  then  most  readily  absorbed  by  the  human  skin.  Lard,  on 
the  contrary,  disappears  more  slowly,  and  is  therefore  to  a  large 
extent  taken  up  by  the  bedclothes  and  garments  to  which  even 
with  the  most  scrupulous  cleanliness  it  soon  imparts  a  rancid 
smell. 
Ointments  prepared  of  hog's  lard  and  iodide  of  potassium,  even 
if  the  lard  was  quite  fresh,  turns  yellow'after  a  few  days,  owing 
to  the  elimination  of  free  iodine,  and  the  color  becomes  deeper 
every  day.  But  if  coconut  oil  be  used  in  place  of  lard,  the  ap- 
pearance of  such  ointments  does  not  change  at  all  for  the  space 
of  two  months  or  even  a  longer  time.  So  might  butter  which  is 
still  used  for  eye  and  other  salves,  properly  be  substituted  by 
coconut  oil.  Ointments  like  Unguentum  Althseas,  Linarise,  Sabinse, 
Digitalis,  &c,  keep  unaltered  for  a  considerable  time  when  pre- 
pared with  oleum  cocos,  but  they  very  soon  acquire  a  rancid 
