'^Aun.  Sf""}  Medicinal  Properties  of  the  Cocoa-nut.  371 
.    THE  MEDICINAL  PROPERTIES  OF  THE  COCOA-NUT. 
By  John  R.  Jackson,  A.L.S., 
Curator  of  the  Museums,  Royal  Gardens,  Kew. 
The  cocoa-nut  {Oocos  nucifera,  L.)  is  a  well-known  economic  plant, 
and  is  extensively  cultivated  in  tropical  countries.  It  is  estimated 
that  in  Travancore  alone  there  are  ten  millions  of  these  trees  growing. 
The  fruits  are  a  most  important  article  of  food  in  the  countries  where 
they  grow,  while  the  oil  and  the  fibre  of  the  husk — known  as  coir — 
are  valuable  articles  in  British  commerce. 
The  cocoa-nut  is  not  a  recognized  medicinal  plant  in  European 
practice,  though  the  oleine  obtained  by  pressure  from  the  crude  oil 
and  refined,  has  been  used  as  a  substitute  for  cod-liver  oil,  experiments 
having  shown  that  its  effect  in  increasing  the  weight  of  the  body  is 
almost  equal  to  that  of  the  latter,  but  that  its  continued  use  is  apt  to 
disturb  the  digestive  organs  and  produce  diarrhoea.  The  crude  oil, 
as  brought  into  England,  is  obtained  by  boiling  and  pressing  the 
white  kernel  or  albumen.  While  in  a  fresh  state,  and  in  a  liquid  form, 
this  oil  is  of  a  pale  yellow  color,  and  almost  without  smell ;  it  is  much 
used  in  cookery  by  the  natives,  but  becomes  partially  solid  and  turns 
rancid  before  it  arrives  in  this  country,  where,  for  the  purposes  of 
the  candle-maker,  the  stearine  or  solid  fat  is  separated  from  the  fluid. 
Cocoa-nut  oil  is  said  to  be  useful  in  strengthening  the  growth  of  the 
hair. 
The  milk  of  the  coaco-nut  is  more  important  to  the  natives  in  a 
medicinal  point  of  view  than  the  oil ;  in  India  they  use  it  as  a  purifier 
of  the  blood,  and  we  have  heard  from  many  an  English  resident  in  our 
eastern  possessions,  that  it  is  not  only  an  excellent  medicine  for  the 
purpose,  but  that  nothing  can  possibly  be  more  refreshing  to  a  thirsty 
traveler  under  a  tropical  sun  than  a  good  draught  of  fresh  cocoa-nut 
milk.  As  we  obtain  it  in  this  country,  it  has  not  only  lost  its  fresh- 
ness and  fine  flavor,  but  has  also  lost  its  medicinal  properties.  When 
quite  fresh  it  has  been  employed' successfully  by  English  doctors  in 
India  in  cases  of  debility  and  incipient  phthisis,  and  it  also  forms  an 
excellent  substitute  for,  if  indeed  it  is  not  preferable  to,  cow's  milk 
for  tea  and  coffee.  In  large  doses,  however,  it  is  said  to  act  as  a 
purgative,  and  on  this  account  has  been  recommended  in  lieu  of 
castor  oil  for  those  who  cannot  overcome  the  nausea  arising  from  the 
latter.  In  the  Fiji  islands  the  milk  is  very  extensively  used,  but  it 
has  been  supposed,  with  how  much  truth  we  are  not  able  to  say,  that 
