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Foreign papers state that a British resident in Russia, who is a member of the Imperial Geographical Society of that countiy, and gardener to his Excellency, General Vsvolodj-sky, near Kizlior, has found, by experiment, that the seed of the tobacco plant contains about fifteen per cent of an oil that has superior desiccative qualities, which may be employed with advantage in paints and varnishes. The process of extraction is said to be simple and easy, requiring only a reduction of the seed to powder, which is to be kneaded into a stiff paste, with a sufficient quantity of hot water, and afterwards submitted to the action of a very strong press. The oil, when expressed, is exposed to a moderate heat, which, coagulating the vegetable albumen of the seed, precipitates all the impurities to the bottom of the vessel, leaving the oil in a perfectly clear and limpid state. There is nothing particularly new in this discovery.
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