the oil of Alkeroa." Other Arab authors use the term "al-keroa" for the Greek "kiki." A frequent Latin name for the Palma Christi was "kikinum," or "cicinum."
 | An image should appear at this position in the text. To use the entire page scan as a placeholder, edit this page and replace "{{missing image}}" with "{{raw image|Chronicles of pharmacy (Volume 2).djvu/104}}". Otherwise, if you are able to provide the image then please do so. For guidance, see Wikisource:Image guidelines and Help:Adding images. |  |
Castor Oil Plant.
The earliest allusion to the oil is found in Herodotus ("Hist. Euterpe," sec. 94), where we read "The inhabitants of the marshy grounds in Egypt make use of an oil which they term the 'kiki,' expressed from the Sillicyprian plant. In Greece this plant springs spontaneously without any cultivation; but the Egyptians sow it on the banks of the river and the canals; it there produces fruit in great abundance, but of a very strong odour. When gathered they obtain from it, either by friction or pressure, an unctuous liquid which diffuses an offensive smell, but for burning it is equal in quality to the oil of olives."
From this and other references it is clear that the Egyptians held the Palma Christi plant in high esteem, and this would hardly have been the case if it was only used for the extraction of an inferior burning oil. As is stated in another section, Ebers guesses that an aperient medicine made from the fruit of the kesebt tree may
