The total quantity of all kinds of wool annually consumed in England and Wales, in 1843, was estimated at 801,566 packs. Now, five gallons of olive, rapeseed or other oils, being used in the preparation of every pack of wool, for cloth (independent of the quantity used in soap, applicable to the woollen manufactures), it follows that five gallons on 801,566 packs are equal to 4,007,830 gallons, or 15,904 tuns; and adding for olive or sperm oil used in machinery 1-11th of the whole, 1,446 tuns, the total quantity consumed is 17,350 tuns.—("Enderby on the South Whale Fishery.")
Fixed oils are found in the cells and intercellular spaces of the fruit, leaves, and other parts of plants.
Some of these are drying oils, as linseed oil, from Linum usitatissimum; some are fat oils, as that from olives (fruit of Olea sativa or Europæa); whilst others are solid, as palm oil.
The solid oils or fats procured from plants are, butter of cacao, from Theobroma cacao; of cinnamon from Cinnamomum verum; of nutmeg, from Myristica moschata; of coco-nut, from Cocos nucifera; of laurel, from Laurus nobilis; of palm oil, from Elais guianiensis; Shea butter, from Bassia Parkii; Galam butter, or Ghee, from Bassia butyracea; and vegetable tallow, from Stillingia sebifera in China, from Vateria indica in Canara and China, and from Pentadesma butyracea in Sierra Leone, and from the almond. These oils contain a large amount of stearine, and are used as substitutes for fat. Some of them are imported in large quantities, and enter into the composition of soap, candles, &c.
Castor oil, from the seeds of Ricinus communis, differs from other fixed oils in its composition.
Decandolle states the following as the quantity of oil obtained from various seeds:—
| Per cent. in weight. | |
| Hazel-nut | 60 |
| Garden cress | 57 |
| Olive | 50 |
| Walnut | 50 |
| Poppy (Papaver somniferum) | 48 |
| Almond | 46 |
| Caper-spurge (Euphorbia Lathyris) | 41 |
| Colza (Brassica oleracea) | 39 |
| White mustard (Sinapis alba) | 36 |
| Tobacco | 34 |
| Plum | 33 |
| Woad | 30 |
| Hemp | 25 |
| Flax | 22 |
| Sunflower | 15 |
| Buckwheat | 14 |
| Grapes | 12 |
The following table, quoted from Boussingault, shows the results of some experiments made by M. Grauzac, of Dagny:—
| Seed produced per acre. | Oil obtained per acre, in lbs. | Oil per cent. | Cake per cent. | ||||
| cwts. | qrs. | lbs. | lbs. | ozs. | |||
| Colewort | 19 | 0 | 15 | 875 | 4 | 40 | 54 |
| Rocket | 15 | 1 | 3 | 320 | 8 | 18 | 73 |
| Winter rape | 16 | 2 | 18 | 641 | 6 | 33 | 62 |
| Swedish turnips | 15 | 1 | 25 | 595 | 8 | 33 | 62 |
| Curled colewort | 16 | 2 | 18 | 641 | 6 | 33 | 62 |
| Turnip cabbage | 13 | 3 | 19 | 565 | 4 | 33 | 61 |
| Gold of pleasure | 17 | 1 | 16 | 545 | 8 | 27 | 72 |
| Sunflower | 15 | 3 | 14 | 275 | 0 | 15 | 80 |
| Flax | 15 | 1 | 25 | 385 | 0 | 22 | 69 |
| White poppy | 10 | 1 | 18 | 560 | 8 | 46 | 52 |
| Hemp | 7 | 3 | 21 | 229 | 0 | 25 | 70 |
| Summer rape | 11 | 3 | 17 | 412 | 5 | 30 | 65 |
The subjoined list will serve to exhibit the richness of the produce of different Indian seeds, from which varieties of oil are extracted; it gives the proportion of oil per cent. in weight:—