Am.  Jour.  Pharni.  ) 
Nov.,  1885.  ; 
Cotton  Seed  Oil. 
565 
ing  each  other  half  way  across,  so  that  the  milk  trickles  from  one 
-channel  into  the  other  till  it  is  received  into  a  calabash  placed  beneath 
the  lowest  gash  to  receive  it.  Tapping  the  trees  is  often  done  in  a 
very  careless  manner,  and  the  trees  much  injured  in  the  process. 
The  yield  of  the  tree  varies  considerably,  according  to  circumstances. 
Sometimes  three  pints  of  milk  only  are  obtained  in  the  course  of  a 
day,  while  at  other  times,  and  by  a  practiced  hand,  as  much  as  five 
gallons  can  be  procured. 
To  dry  the  milk  it  is  poured  into  shallow  wooden  trays  and  exposed 
to  as  much  air  as  possible,  as  well  as  to  the  sun's  influence.  It  is, 
however,  a  slow  and  tedious  operation.  Mr.  Jenman  remarks  that 
some  quicker  system  of  evaporation  than  that  at  present  practiced  is 
very  desirable. 
With  trees  of  so  valuable  a  character  as  that  yielding  balata  it  is 
most  important  that  very  great  care  should  be  taken  of  them,  and 
means  adopted  rather  to  increase  than  diminish  their  numbers.  The 
ruthless  felling  of  trees  is,  therefore,  to  be  condemned,  as  well  as  the 
•careless  tapping  from  which  the  tree  receives  mortal  injury.  Mr.  Jen- 
man  justly  says:  The  forests  should  be  so  worked  that  the  fullest 
measure  of  present  benefit  could  be  taken  from  them  without  impair- 
ing in  any  degree  their  future  value."  The  report  concludes  with 
some  considerations  or  suggestions  on  the  better  conservation  of  the 
forests,  some  of  the  remarks  on  which  might  be  almost  equally  applied 
to  trees  other  than  those  furnishing  balata. — Phar.  Jour,  and  Trans. , 
Sept.  5,  1885,  p.  212,  from  Gardeners^  Chronicle,  Aug.  15. 
NOTES  ON  COTTON  SEED  OIL.^ 
By  W.  Gilmour. 
It  is  not  my  intention  to  take  up  the  time  of  the  Conference  with 
^my  apology  for  bringing  this  subject  forward  at  the  present  time.  An 
oil  that  has  been  made  officinal  in  one  of  our  great  national  pharma- 
<3opoeias,  and  which  is  also  being  imported  into,  as  well  as  manufac- 
tured in  this  country  in  very  large  quantity,  is  not  without  interest  to 
every  pharmacist,  and  I  think  requires  no  apology  for  its  introduction. 
The  great  source  from  which  the  cotton  seed  oil  imported  into  this 
vcountry  is  derived  is,  of  course,  America,  the  oil  being  expressed  from 
'  Read  before  the  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference. 
