568 
Gotten  Seed  Oil. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t       Nov.,  1885. 
two  samples  of  cotton  seed  were  getting  a  little  viscid  and  slightly  sticky, 
showing  that  they  were  in  process  of  drying.  The  olive  and  almond 
samples  remained  soft  and  free.  Next  applying  the  nitrate  of  mercury 
test,  as  recommended  by  Pontet  (12  grams  of  mercury  dissolved  in 
11  cc.  cold  nitric  acid  of  specific  gravity  1*42,  and  8  grams  of  this 
solution  shaken  frequently  with  90  grams  of  oil),  and  for  purposes  of 
comparison  taking  also  equal  quantities  of  olive  and  almond  oils,  I 
found  that  olive  oil  solidified  in  two  and  a  half  hours,  almond  oil  in 
a  little  over  four  hours,  while  the  one  sample  of  cotton  seed  oil  took 
eight  hours,  and  the  other  nearly  sixteen  hours  to  thoroughly  solidify. 
These  experiments,  I  think,  prove  that  it  lies  as  it  were  intermediate 
between  a  strictly  drying  and  a  non-drying  oil. 
The  last  point  which  I  was  anxious  to  determine  was  the  saponify- 
ing power  of  this  oil.  I  noticed  at  a  very  early  period  of  my  experi- 
ments that  it  formed  the  Pharmacopceia^^liniments  of  lime  and  ammo- 
nia with  some  difficulty,  and  even  where  the  oil  was  got  to  incorporate 
with  the  alkalies  the  liniment  was  never  to  any  extent  permanent. 
From  their  behavior  in  this  respect  I  concluded  that  some  observations 
on  the  saponifying  power  of  cotton  seed  oil  might  be  valuable.  I  am 
sorry,  however,  I  have  not  had  time  to  undertake  this,  and  princi- 
pally from  the  fact  that  an  investigation  of  this  kind  promised  to  be 
interminable. 
I  have  found  no  two  samples  exactly  to  agree,  and,  therefore,  any 
observations  on  individual  samples  are  practically  useless.  I  have 
here,  for  example,  two  samples  of  oils  which,  as  regards  their  beha- 
vior with  alkalies,  may  be  regarded  as  typical,  the  one  forming  an 
emulsion  with  the  alkalies,  but  separating  more  or  less  after  a  time,  the 
other  utterly  refusing  to  form  an  emulsion  of  any  kind.  The  latter 
oil  I  know  to  be  genuine,  but  whether  this  peculiar  behavior  is  owing 
to  any  physical  or  chemical  difference  in  the  oil  from  causes  already 
mentioned,  or  whether  it  is  owing  to  some  peculiarity  in  the  process  of 
refining  I  have  not  been  able  to  determine.  One  thing,  however,  I 
have  noted,  namely,  that  if  even  a  small  quantity  of  a  saponifying  oil, 
such  as  olive,  be  mixed  with  the  cotton  seed  oil  it  will  convert  it  into 
a  miscible  oil  with  the  alkalies. 
The  practical  conclusion  to  my  observations  and  experiments  is  this, 
that  cotton  seed  oil  from  its  sweetness  and  keeping  properties  is  admi- 
rably adapted  as  a  base  for  ointments  and  pomades,  but  is  not  suited 
lor  forming  liniments  with  alkaline  solutions. 
