CASTINGS, TO SOFTEN IRON: See Iron. {153}

CASTOR OIL:

Purifying Rancid Castor Oil.

How To Pour Out Castor Oil.

Tasteless Castor Oil.—

I.—Pure castor oil 1 pint
Cologne spirit 3 fluidounces
Oil of wintergreen40 minims
Oil of sassafras20 minims
Oil of anise15 minims
Saccharine 5 grains
Hot water, a sufficient quantity.

Place the castor oil in a gallon bottle. Add a pint of hot water and shake vigorously for about 15 minutes. Then pour the mixture into a vessel with a stopcock at its base, and allow the mixture to stand for 12 hours. Draw off the oil, excepting the last portion, which must be rejected. Dissolve the essential oils and saccharine in the cologne spirit and add to the washed castor oil.

II.—First prepare an aromatic solution of saccharine as follows:

Refined saccharine 25 parts
Vanillin  5 parts
Absolute alcohol950 parts
Oil of cinnamon 20 parts

Dissolve the saccharine and vanillin in the alcohol, then add the cinnamon oil, agitate well and filter. Of this liquid add 20 parts to 980 parts of castor oil and mix by agitation. Castor oil, like cod-liver oil, may be rendered nearly tasteless, it is claimed, by treating it as follows: Into a matrass of suitable size put 50 parts of freshly roasted coffee, ground as fine as possible, and 25 parts of purified and freshly prepared bone or ivory black. Pour over the mass 1,000 parts of the oil to be deodorized and rendered tasteless, and mix. Cork the container tightly, put on a water bath, and raise the temperature to about 140° F. Keep at this heat from 15 to 20 minutes, then let cool down, slowly, to 90°, at which temperature let stand for 3 hours. Finally filter, and put up in small, well-stoppered bottles.