During the period of the Great Exhibition special enquiry was made by many manufacturers as to the different oils of Southern India, suitable for supplying the place of animal fat in the manufacture of candles, and generally adapted for various other purposes.  Enquiries should be directed to the specific gravity, the boiling point, the per centage of pure oil in the seeds, and the means of obtaining a regular supply.  The demand for vegetable oils in European commerce has been steadily on the increase for several years past, and the quantities consumed are now so large that the oleaginous products of India and the colonies must sooner or later have a considerable commercial importance, from the value which they are likely to acquire.  Indeed some have already established a footing in the home market, and Drs. Hunter, Cleghorn, and others in India, have specially directed the attention of the natives and merchants to the subject.

MARGOSE, OR NEEM OIL.—­From the pericarp or fleshy part of the fruit of the Melia Azederachta, the well known Margosa oil is prepared; which is cheap and easily procurable in Ceylon.  Dr. Maxwell, garrison surgeon of Trichinopoly, states that he has found this oil equally efficacious to cod-liver oil in cases of consumption and scrofula.  He began with half-ounce doses, morning and evening, which were gradually reduced.

ILLEPE OIL.—­The seeds of three species of Bassia, indigenous to India, yield solid oils, and are remarkable for the fact, that they supply at the same time saccharine matter, spirit, and oil, fit for both food and burning in lamps.  The Illepe( B. longifolia) is a tree abundant in the Madras Presidency, the southern parts of Hindostan generally, and the northern province of Ceylon.  In Ceylon the inhabitants use the oil in cooking and for lamps.  The oil cake is rubbed on the body as soap, and seems admirably adapted for removing the unctuosity of the skin caused by excessive perspiration, and for rendering it soft, pliable, and glossy, which is so conducive to health in a tropical climate.  The oil is white and solid at common temperatures, fusing at from 70 to 80 degrees.  It may be advantageously employed in the manufacture of both candles and soap; in Ceylon and some parts of India this oil forms the chief ingredient in the manufacture of soap.

Mahower (B. latifolia) is common in most parts of the Bengal Presidency.  The oil a good deal resembles that last described, obtained from the Illepe seeds; and may be used for similar purposes.  It is solid at common temperatures, and begins to melt at about 70 degrees.

Vegetable butter is obtained from the Choorie (B. butyracea).  This tree, though far less generally abundant than the other two species, is common in certain of the hilly districts, especially in the eastern parts of Kumaon; in the province of Dotee it is so abundant that the oil is cheaper than ghee, or fluid butter, and is used to adulterate it.  It is likewise commonly burnt in lamps, for which purpose it is preferred to coco-nut oil.  It is a white solid fat, fusible at about 120 degrees, and exhibits very little tendency to become rancid when kept.