i6 
Beechnut  Oil. 
(  A.m.  Jour  Pharm 
I    January,  18P6. 
trees  do  not  bear  a  full  crop  every  year,  consequently  permanent 
establishments  for  its  production  can  only  be  maintained  in  the 
vicinity  of  large  forests. 
.  The  majority  of  writers  upon  the  subject  of  the  fatty  oils  class 
this  among  the  non-drying  oils ;  Allen,  however,  places  it  in  the 
cotton-seed  oil  group  among  the  semi-drying  oils,  the  latter  suppo- 
sition is  confirmed  by  the  author's  experience  with  the  oil  prepared 
from  American  beech  nuts,  as  it  possessed  unmistakable  drying 
properties.  The  following  experiment  was  performed  to  test  its  dry- 
ing properties,  with  the  accompanying  results,  o  764  gramme  were 
exposed  on  a  watch-glass  for  ten  days,  the  temperature  being  raised 
several  times  by  placing  it  on  the  water-bath  for  an  hour ;  after  one 
day  it  had  gained  0  78  per  cent,  in  weight ;  after  two  days,  1*17  per 
cent.,  and  at  the  expiration  of  ten  days  the  gain  was  379  per  cent. 
After  exposing  about  25  grammes  to  the  heat  of  a  water-bath  for 
four  or  five  days,  the  oil  acquired  the  characteristics  of  a  blown  oil, 
possessing  an  acid  reaction  and  a  high  specific  gravity. 
The  beech  nuts  examined  by  the  author  were  gathered  in  Sulli- 
van County,  Pennsylvania.  The  beech  trees  in  this  particular 
locality  are  associated  with  hemlocks ;  but  as  the  latter  are  being 
cut  out  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  tanneries  in  the  vicinity,  the 
beech  already  predominate. 
The  weight  of  100  average  nuts  was  28-60  grammes,  containing 
10  per  cent,  of  imperfect  or  worm-eaten  nuts.  The  weight  of  100 
sound,  selected  nuts  averaged  33-15  grammes.  The  percentage  of 
weight  of  the  husks  in  the  latter  was  36  52,  the  percentage  of 
kernels  being  63-48. 
The  moisture  was  determined  by  drying  5  grammes  of  the  nuts, 
previously  powdered  with  glass,  to  a  constant  weight  on  a  water- 
bath.    The  average  of  three  determinations  was  6-0 1  per  cent. 
The  ash  was  estimated  by  incinerating  a  small  quantity  of  the 
powdered  kernels  in  a  platinum  crucible,  the  average  of  three 
determinations  being  3-27  per  cent. 
The  nitrogen  was  estimated  by  the  Kjeldahl  method.  Two 
grammes  of  the  kernels  yielded  enough  ammonia  to  neutralize 
4*73  c.c.  of  normal  sulphuric  acid,  corresponding  to  4  02  per  cent, 
of  nitrogen.  This  is  equivalent  to  25-13  per  cent,  of  albuminoids 
when  calculated  in  the  usual  manner,  using  6  25  as  the  factor. 
Reducing  sugar  was  tested  for  with  negative  results  ;  1-5  grammes 
