Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-07-20
COTTON SEED OIL.


Gates the following, which is werthythe atten-
tion of those who think cotton seed oil can be
successfully used, for culinary purposes, as a
substitute for lard:
The recent introduction of cotton seed oil
as a substitute for lard in the preparation of
food, renders the correct answer to the query
| is cotton seed oil fit for food matter of great
Importance to the public.
The cotton plant is well known to possess
! important medical properties the flowers and
leaves are soothing and demulcient the root is
an active parturient, more SO than ergot or
rye and a strong decOctiOn of the seeds, it is
said, will arrest intermittent fever. Besides
these reputed properties, farmers all agree that
cotton seed will kill pigs and even grown hogs;
first causing them to fatten rapidly, followed
by an almost sudden death. 1t is said also to
act as an abortive in the case of breeding sows
and cattle. Observation shows that hogs do
not consume the seed entirely, but chew it un-
til they have extracted all the oil, and then re-
ject the pulp. 1t thus appears to be slow
poison, with the first impressions of a salutary
misunderstanding and then killing. Is an oil
possessed of such properties safe as food :?
Who can answer this query satisfactorily :?
Can any one show conclusively that it is not
the oil which ultimately kills the hogs?
Cotton seed meal, after the oil has been ex-
pressed, is much used as food for stock and
appears to be perfectly safe. AS this meal con-
| tans everything of the seed except the oil, it
must follow that the oil must possess some
medical property inconsistent with health and
may be positively dangerous.
The position that cotton seed oil must be
safer for food than lard because it is purely
vegetable oil is most untenable. Castor oil,
croton oil and many other active oils are pure
ly vegetable, but no one would willingly use
them in the preparation of their bread
Can it be shown that the popular belief that
cotton seed will kill hogs is not founded on
fact &? That the deaths are fairly attributable
to some other cause? Until these questions
are fully discussed and answered it would be
we'll for the public to pause and consider the
question of the safety of cotton seed oil as a
food MEDICUs.
SENSATIONS OF THE BL1ND.-An interest
ing account has been lately furnished by M.
Plateau, the eminent Belgian physicist (who
has been blind nearly forty years., of the SEN
sation he experiences in his eyes. He has no
sense of objective light, even when directing
his eyes toward the sun. But his visual field
is always divided into spaces, some OF which
are pretty bright and others sombre or nearly
n,
general tint alternates, in time, between gray
and reddish. The relative arrangement OF
these different shades is always the same,
but the intensity Of their tints varies. The
central space seems now right bright, now
very dark: above, below and on the left, 10
the limits of the field, there is sometimes
brightness, sometimes darkness, but on the
right there is generally a vertical band, nearly
black and beyond this space which is nearly
always bright and reddish. These appearances
follow all the movements Of the eyes, which
probably do not participate in the same way
in the tints, but NJ. Plateau cannot distinguish
what belongs to one from what belongs TO the
other. No connection of the general tint with
the work of digestion is observed. The an-
thor states that he became blind through look
ing fxedly at the sun for some time, with a
view to observe his after sensation. 1t was
not till about fourteen years after this that
inflammation Of the chord set in, destroying
vision, but during the interval he often saw
colored and persistent halos, round flames,
etc., and he advises those who have such
visions to consult an experienced ocullst.
GERMAN HUMOR-A curious form of Ger
man humor appears in book recently pub
lshed at Berlin. Here is a passage: AT a
quarter to six we went to the great post Office.
The squeeze was tremendous Iounu Ihe ne"S-
paper box where the newspapers are thrust
in bales and it is indeed, on Il grand scale, the
Times alone having 100000 subscribers.
warned schultze not to 60 near the crush, but
he did not hear me. As he was standing
there, there came great shock OF newspaper
boys running with bales of newspapers, and
throwing them in at the window \ bale or
newspapers hit Schultze on the head he loses
his balance, and tips head forward into the
bureau. Half a dozen officials Immediately
seize him. stamp him in the stomach, and the
unhappy Schultze is despatched in an unpaid
newspacket to the provinces. At this moment
the box is closed with snap. rush against
it. and cry, ':Schultze Schultze!'' But it
is too late; your unhappy son-in-law was al
ready packed in the post cart: ran into the
bureau of the postmaster, and demanded back
your son-n-law. "Is your friend addressed' ?"
he asks. ''No,'' I answered. Every we'll, "
says the Englishman; M. schultze will re-
main for six months in the bureau; and, if no
one applies for him, he will be burned as
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