AMERICAN  PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATION.  487 
deprived  of  their  episperms  and  ground,  of  the  crude  oil  by  expression  and 
of  the  oil  refined,  and  more  or  less  decolorized,  accompanied  by  the  follow- 
ing verbal  remarks,  which,  at  our  request,  he  kindly  put  upon  paper  for 
the  readers  of  the  Journal. — Editor.] 
The  manufacture  of  oil  from  cotton  seed  is  not  a  novelty  ;  a 
small  quantity  has  been  made  at  the  South  for  some  years  past ; 
lately,  however,  the  demand  for  lubricators  has  turned  the  atten- 
tion of  many  to  cotton  seed,  (immense  quantities  of  which  are  al- 
lowed to  rot,  or  used  only  as  a  manure  upon  the  cotton  fields  of 
the  South,)  as  a  material  from  which  large  quantities  of  oil  might 
be  profitably  obtained. 
At  New  Orleans  I  have  been  informed  that  a  quantity  of  this 
oil  has  been  of  late  produced,  a  sample  of  which  I  have  seen.  It 
was  a  very  bland,  light  colored  oil,  said  to  be  made  by  steaming 
the  seeds  and  collecting  the  oil  by  skimming  it  from  the  surface 
of  the  water.  I  cannot  vouch  for  the  correctness  of  the  above 
process. 
In  Cincinnati  some  of  the  oil  millers  have  made  the  attempt 
of  pressing  cotton  seed  for  the  oil,  but  the  experiments  so  far, 
I  believe,  have  been  very  unsatisfactory,  both  in  regard  to  the 
quality  of  the  oil  obtained  and  in  the  cost  of  it. 
The  oil,  to  be  made  profitably,  should  either  be  manufactured 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  cotton  plantation,  (as  the  seeds  from  the  at- 
tached fibre  are  bulky,  and  the  cost  of  transportation  an  item,) 
or  the  seed  should  be  hulled  at  the  spot  and  shipped  to  the  place 
where  it  is  to  be  pressed  in  that  condition,  as  it  requires  three 
or  four  bushels  of  seed  in  the  wool  to  produce  one  bushel  of  hulled 
seed  ready  for  the  mill. 
The  oil  as  it  runs  from  the  press  is  of  a  very  dark  red  color. 
After  standing  some  time  it  deposits  a  portion  of  the  coloring 
matter,  also  a  portion  of  a  semi-solid  fat ;  and  in  cold  weather 
this  is  deposited  to  a  large  extent ;  and  is  only  partially  taken 
up  upon  increase  of  temperature.  The  color  of  the  oil  obtained 
by  pressure  is  one  great  objection  to  its  general  use,  and  is  very 
difficult  to  remove  ;  in  bleaching  it  at  least  ten  or  fifteen  per 
cent,  of  the  oil  is  lost,  a  portion  of  which  may  be  recovered,  and 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  soap,  for  which  purpose  cotton  seed 
oil  is  better  adapted  than  for  any  other  purpose.  It  is  a  drying 
oil,  consequently  not  fit  for  lubricating,  and  when  burnt  gives  a 
