History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c40.s3.46

c40.s3.46

*Oils, Fats, Milks—Dı-bhautic quasi-compounds, with ap as energiser:*—Oleaginous substances are divided by Udayana into (1) oils, derived from vegetables, (2) butters, derived from milk, and (3) fats, derived from animals. The medical schools, as we have seen, recognise animal oils as distinguished from vegetable oils. Vegetable fats are also mentioned. Vachaspati in the Tatparyyatika contends that mustard oil has not the flavour and smell characteristic of the true oils (sesamum, linseed, etc.), and is classed with the latter by convention. Judged by the flavour test, *amiksha* (the casein substance formed by mixing milk-curd with hot boiled milk) is to be classed with milk-substances. So also *takra*, whey,—but *vajina*, the thin fluid that is left after the *amīksha* (casein substance) is separated, cannot be classed as milk. It may be added that the milks and curds, as well as oils and fats derived from different species of vegetables or animals, are supposed to differ in their ultimate structural arrangement and therefore in kind; but Vallabha thinks that the *ghees* (clarified butters), prepared from different kinds of milk, are of the same kind; in other words, the milks and curds are 'polymeric', the ghees (clarified butters), 'isomeric', using these terms as before in a loose general sense. Vallabha notes that *ghees* do not differ in kind, as milks and curds do.