^"^■Feb.';"i888^'^™'}       Analysis  of  Ricinus  Communis.  93 
ANALYSIS  OF  EICINUS  COMMUNIS. 
By  Addison  Lloyd  Beck,  Ph.G. 
From  an  Inaugural  Essay. 
This  plant  is  a  native  of  India,  and  in  tropical  countries  attains  a 
height  of  forty  feet;  in  warm  temperate  regions  it  is  a  woody  branch- 
ing bush,  twelve  to  fifteen  feet  high,  and  in  this  climate  it  is  an  an- 
nual herb  of  variable  sizes,  according  to  the  care  and  cultivation,  and 
protection  of  the  young  plants  in  early  spring  time.  When  grown  in 
its  native  climes  it  seeds  well  for  six  years,  then  ceases  to  bear  and  dies 
off.  It  is  successfully  cultivated  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  chiefly 
for  the  oil  found  in  the  seeds,  but  other  uses  are  made  of  the  different 
parts  of  the  plant.  The  records  note  that  it  was  introduced  into  Italy 
and  the  United  States  about  the  same  time,  in  the  year  1855,^  and 
continues  to  be  largely  cultivated  in  this  country,  especially  in  Illinois 
and  other  western  States.  In  1867  experiments  were  tried  in  Cali- 
fornia with  success ;  the  plants  grew  luxuriantly,  and  gave  a  large 
yield  of  seeds,  but  the  expense  of  gathering  the  crop  was  so  great  that 
its  continued  cultivation  did  iiot  assume  commercial  importance. 
The  uses  of  the  castor-oil  plant  are  numerous.  The  oil  expressed 
from  the  seeds,  aside  from  its  demulcent  and  purgative  properties  as 
a  medicine,  is  largely  used  as  a  lubricant  for  machinery  and  as  a  dress- 
ing for  preserving  and  softening  leather ;  also  in  dyeing  and  printing. 
It  is  largely  used  in  India  as  a  lamp  oil,  giving  an  excellent  white 
light  with  but  little  soot. 
The  oil  cake  is  used  as  a  manure,  and  in  India  for  making  illumi- 
nating gas.^  The  leaves  of  the  plant  form  the  food  of  the  silk  spin- 
ning bombyx  (see  Americais^  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  1855,  p. 
110),  and  are  used  medicinally  as  a  galactagogue  {Ibid:,  1851,  p.  176), 
and  in  India  also,  for  the  cure  of  rheumatism  by  warming  or  sweating 
them,  and  binding  on  the  parts  affected.  According  to  Mr.  Rafford 
(Ibid.,  1883,  p.  422),  flies  disappear  from  a  room  in  which  castor-oil 
plants  have  been  placed;  and  it  has  been  recently  suggested  that  the 
dried  and  powdered  leaves  be  used  as  an  insect  powder.    The  objec- 
^  According  to  a  paper  by  Prof.  Procter,  published  in  American  Jouenal  of 
Phaemacy,  1885,  p.  99,  the  crop  of  ricinus  seeds  in  Illinois  and  Missouri,  in 
1850,  was  250,000  bushels,  and  yielded  350,000  gallons  of  oil. — Editoe. 
2  It  has  also  been  recommended  for  the  destruction  of  insects,  and  the  culti- 
vation of  the  plant  in  safiron  beds  is  said  to  protect  the  latter  against  mice. 
See  Ameeican  Journal  op  Pharmacy,  1875,  p.  233. — Editor. 
