fatty oil is extracted by decoction from the fruit of Euterpe oleracea [edalls], the assai palm, found abundantly in Para, growing in swampy places, especially on the banks of rivers within the tidal limits. The oil is of greenish colour, and slightly bitter flavour, and is used for illuminating.
Bean-oil.—The seeds of the Chinese oil-bean, the sooja or miso of the Japanese (Glycine Soja [Soja hispida] ), afford 17-18 per cent, of a fatty oil. The plant is shrubby, attaining a height of 3-4 ft, and resembling the common dwarf kidney or French bean. The seeds are somewhat smaller than French beans, and vary in colour, from white to yellow and green. The plant is chiefly cultivated in the north of China, especially in the province of Shantung. The Chinese usually obtain 17 per cent. of oil from the seeds by simple pressure. The oil bears a general analogy to the ordinary edible oils of commerce, possessing an agreeable flavour and odour. It is useful for burning ; exposed to a low temperature, it becomes pasty, and oxidizes rapidly on exposure to the air. As a drying-oil, it might replace linseed-oil for some purposes. As an illuminator, it is being rapidly replaced by American petroleum, but is still extensively used for food. The oil, the cake left after expression of the oil, and the beans themselves, are important articles of Chinese commerce. The exports from Chefoo in 1h78 were 24681 picnic (of 1334 lb.) of bean-oil, 994,188 of bean-cake, and 160,5194 of beans ; in 1870, the exports of the oil from this port were 44,530 picots ; in 1877, only 327 picots; and in 1879, 1491 picots. The exports of bean-oil from Newchwang were 4947 picots in 1877, 32871 in 1878, and 11,630 in 1879 ; of beans, in the same years, 1,439,062, 2,156,064, and 1,835,444 picnic respectively ; and of bean-cake, 792,166, 1,924,968, and 1,800,523 picots. Chinkiang exported 69,090 piculs of beans in 1877, and 43,784 in 1879. Hankow imported 21,0771 picots of native bean-oil, value 15,6241., in 1879. Kiukiang, in 1879, imported 17,675 picnic. Shanghai, in 1879, imported- 2821 piculs from native ports, and exported 33,940 plaids (besides 372 re-exports) to native ports. Wuhu impoIts quantities of the oil from Hohan, vih Hankow, also from Hochow, Luchowfu, and some other places north of the river ; the figures were, 6591 pietas in 1877, 13,5741 in 1878, and 5284 in 1879. The cake is used for human and cattle food, and as manure. (See also Spices—Soy.) The plant is cultivated for its beans in
many parts of India and the Archipelago ; and has been successfully introduced into Austro Hungary and N. Germany.
(Fa., Huila do Faine).—The fruit or " mast" of the common beech (see Timber) is valued for its oil in some parts of the Continent, notably France, and was so in England also in Queen Anne's reign. The forest of Compiegne is the chief locality for the production of the oil, which there forms an important industry, a vigorous tree being estimated to yield in good years not less than 22 gal. of oil. When the mast is ripe, at the beginning of autumn, it is shaken down upon cloths spread beneath, and sorted ; the soundest fruits are placed to dry in the shade, crushed between rollers or in a mill, and sifted or fanned to remove the shells. Thus treated, the dried kernels are put into troughs, and stamped to a paste ; this latter is enclosed in bags, and subjected to pressure ; the escaping oil is poured into capacious vessels, and left to deposit the mucilaginous matters extracted by the pressure, after which, it is ready for commerce. This process is the best, not only as regards the oil produced, but also as affording a good cattle-food in the refuse cakes. Unfor tunately, the shelling of the kernels is often omitted, when the shells retain some of the oil, and only release it on boiling in water, by which its character is impaired. Occasionally the nuts are hand-shelled singly, and treated with such care, that the cake left after expression of the oil contains sufficient amylaceous matter to be used as a kind of bread. The yield of oil is about 12-15 per cent. (20-25 per cent. by carbon bisulphide), or 1 gal. of oil from 1 bush, of mast. The newly-extracted oil has an acrid flavour, which disappears in time, or may be removed by washing with cold water. The oil has a clear-yellow colour, a peculiar odour, and a faint flavour; freshly-drawn, it is thick and cloudy ; after sufficient rest, it is limpid, but slightly viscous. Its sp. gr. is at 15° (59° F.) ; it becomes turbid at - 10° (14° F.), and congeals at -18° (0° F.) to] a yellowish white mass ; and keeps long without becoming rancid. It is sometimes used instead of butter for cooking in E. France, but is more commonly employed to adulterate olive-oil. It serves for illuminating ; and forms with soda a dirty grey, bard soap, but which always remains greasy.