I Jl,ASS IV.]
OIL SERIES—FOREIGN OILS IMPORTED.
79
Some good samples of starch are shown by D. G.Mir.yt, of Salamanca A28, p. 1337).
Two specimens of starch in the Portuguese Departmentare found to merit notice, namely, the starch from Estre-madura, exhibited by MM. Holueche (454, p. 1313),and the starch from Alemtejo, Evora (453, p. 1313): theJury deemed both these deserving of Honourable Mention.
In the Russian collections, there is a good sample of jpotato starch exhibited by Yurghexson, of Marieno, inthe government and district of Novgorod (72, p. 13(38);also a specimen of dextrine prepared from potato starch,in the district of Shutzk, government of Tamboff, exhi-bited by the Prince V. Volkonsky (70, p. 1363); somesamples of starch and dextrine, manufactured by Yerdanand Co., of Moscow (30, p. 1367); and some excellentwheat starch exhibited by C. Kotermax, of Reval (71,p. 1368). The Jury deemed these, severally, deservingof Honourable Mention.
siderable practical interest. Whilst, on the one hand, itis desirable to draw the attention of manufacturers andconsumers to the numerous foreign and colonial oils notat present imported into this country,—it is at the sametime also useful to point out how greatly the value ofsuch oils depeuds on the care bestowed on their prepara-tion, especially as regards cleanliness of the seed, and theexclusion of impurity of all sorts in the process of ex-tracting the oil.
Of the six principal vegetable oils, namely, palm, cocoa-nut, castor, olive, linseed, and rape, the first four areimported in the state of oil, only; the two last chiefly asseed: the proportion in which they were imported in theyear 1850, is shown in the following Table; and if tothese quantities are added about a million and a halfewts. of tallow, and about 20,000 tons of whale oil andspermaceti, they will nearly represent the total quantityof oil imported into Great Britain .
Section 2. —Oil Series.
Notwithstanding the great importance of oil, and thenumber of purposes to which it is applied in the arts andmanufactures, comparatively few English exhibitors havecontributed specimens, independent of those sent in illus-tration of the manufacture of candles, all of which, asalready stated, have been referred to Class XXIX. Thisis certainly remarkable, when we remember the largequantities of oil annually imported, and the extensive useof it in the arts of candle and soap making, for burningin lamps, for diminishing friction in machinery of allkinds, — and especially for locomotives;—in wool dressing,in the manufacture of paints and varnishes, as an articleof food, for medical purposes, &c. Oils are generallydivided into the fat or fixed oils, and tlie essential orvolatile oils; the former class being again subdivided,into fixed greasy oils and drying oils; and, lastly, thefixed greasy oils are separated into those which areusually fluid at all ordinary temperatures, and those whichare generally solid, the latter being called tallows,butters, or solid oils. The quality of any oil depeuds, inpart, on the nature and goodness of the seed or nut fromwhich it is expressed; but it is influenced far more bythe process employed in its extraction; the value of theoil for many purposes depending on its purity, or theabsence of foreign matter derived from the seed, andconsequently being greatly affected by the conditionsunder which it is expressed, the inode in which the seedis crushed, the kind of press employed, and, above all, thetemperature at which it is pressed.
Among the oils (of which there is a very great number),there are several which are admirably suited for variouspurposes, but which, nevertheless, on account of theirprice, depending, generally, on local circumstances, suchas cost of freight, &c., are very little or not at all usedby our manufacturers. The knowledge, however, thatsuch oils may, at any time, be procured iu large quan-tities, is of great practical value; because, not only is itpossible that, by the introduction of improved machinery,or by increased facilities of conveyance, their price maybe reduced; but the very existence of such substaucestends to equalize the market value of those oils now gene-rally employed—aud should, at any time, accidental cir-cumstances cause the price of the latter to advance, thesesubstances would then be most advantageously introduced,and would probably, ere long, altogether supersede theoils in the place of which they had been originally im-ported. Thus the price of tallow is, to some extent,regulated and kept in check by that of palm and cocoa-nut oil; and should the value of the latter oils at anytime rise, there are a number of other solid vegetable oils,equally good for all practical purposes, which with a verylittle trouble might be had in almost any quantity. There ,are, however, some special purposes iu which oils areused, for which it would not be so easy to find good sub-stitutes; such, for example, as the lubrication of finemachinery, and the operations of the wool-spinner. It isprobable that, among the numerous little-known oils of :tropical countries, there may be many as well suited for :both of these purposes as those now generally employed ;good specimens of new oils are, therefore, always of con-
Linseed.
ltape-seed.
Qrs.
Qrs.
_
4S2.813 i
3,235
—
870 :
—
Norwav - - —
_
26S
—
Denmark — - -
—
37
3,092
Prussia - — —
_
87.273
1 645
Ilanse Towns - —
_
1, 153
2.872
_
7.734
201
-
1,476
: -
Austrian Territories
-
40
2,480
—
-
1,637
910
1 1.280
-
17,517
1
Past Indian Empire
-
26,142
! 13,126
Miscellaneous - -
-
262
! 922
Total - -
-
626,495
! 29,490
i
The quantity of the four principal vegetable oils an-nually imported into Great Britain is shown by thefollowing Table:—
1848
1819
510,218 cwts.> 493,331 cwts. 448,589 cwts.85,463 „ ! 64,452 „ 98,040 ,,
4,588 „ i 9,681 „
10,086 tuns. 16,964 tuns. 20,783 tuns.
The proportion in which these oils were furnished byvarious countries in 1849 was:—
Castor Oil.
Cwts.
Tans.
Cwts.
475,364
i
-
13,349
_
290
14
9,661
East Indies - -
-
9,315
3,719
_
_
_
2,237
_
-
1,712
-
-
832
-
—
753
_
525
—
_
_
506
_
_
368
_
Madeira - -
353
_
_
—
333
ii
Miscellaneous —
“
461
65
Total - -
493,331
16,864
9,G61
An interesting and valuable series of specimens ofcotton seed, and of the oil and cake obtained from it,after the expression of the oil, is shown by R. Burn, ofEdinburgh (Class III., 6S, p. 204). The oil of cottonseed has been made in small quantities for a considerablenumber of years. In 1785, the Society for the Encou-ragement of Arts and Commerce offered a prize for itsmanufacture on a large scale; but it does not seem to