MYRISTICA. 



5U3 







The words Macer, Macar, Machiv or Macir, occurring in the writ- 

 ings of Scribonius Largus, Dioscorides, Galen, and Pliny arc tli ought 

 by Martins to refer in each instance to mace. But that the sub- 

 stance designated by these names was not mace, but tlie bark of a tree 

 growing in Malabar, was pointed out b}' Acosta nearly three centuries 

 ago, and by many subsequent writers, and, as we think, with perfect 

 correctness.^ 

 - Nutmegs and mace were imported from India at an early date by 

 the Arabians, and thus passed into western countries. Aetius, who 

 was resident at the court of Constantinople about the year 540, appears 

 to have been acquainted with the nutmeg, if that at least is intended 

 by the term Nuces Indicm, prescribed together with cloves,^ spikenard, 

 costus, calamus aromaticus and sandal wood, as an ingredient of the 



Siffiimightm moschatum'^ 



Masudi,^ who appears to have visited India in A.D. 916-920, pointed 

 out that the nutmeg, like cloves, areca nut and sandal wood, was a pro- 

 duct of the eastern islands of the Indian Archipelago. The Arabian 



meu- 



geograplier Edrisi, who wrote in the middle of the 12th century, i 

 tions both nutmegs and mace as ai'ticlcs of import into Aden; and 

 again " Nois mouscades " are among the spices on which duty was levied 

 at Acre in Palestine, circa A.D. 1180.' About a century later, another 

 Arabian author, Kazwini/ expressly named the Moluccas as the native 

 country of the spices under notice. . . 



The Sanskrit name of the nutmeg-tree most commonly in use, also 



with Susruta, is Jati (Dr. Rice). . ^ 



One of the earliest references to the use of nutmegs_ in Jiurope 

 occurs in a poem written about 1195, by Petrus D'Ebulo,' describing 

 the entry into Rome of the Emperor Henry VI., prior to hi.s coronation 

 in April 1191. On this occasion the streets were fumigated with 

 aromatics, which are enumerated in the following line: 



(( 



Balsama, thus, aloe, myrhlka, cynnama, nardus." 



. By the end of the 12th century, both nutmegs and mace were found 

 m Northern Europe,— even in Denmark, as may be inferred from tlie 

 allusion to them in the writings of Harpestreng.^ In England, mace, 



I281~and 1377 bein 



ough well known, was a vely costly spice, its value between A.a 



g about 4.. 7d per lb., while the average price of a 



sheep during the same period was but 1^. 5d, and ^^^ f.^^'^/f, ''"•., i ^c 

 ^^as also dear in France, for in the Gompte de Vexecwtion of/^^^^J^^^^^ 

 Jeanne d'Evreux. queen of France, in 1372, six ounces ot mace are 



. ^ Merat et De Lens, Did. de 

 ^y- (1S32) 173.-Tlie tree is, 



Mat, Med, 



J.J , * vx^^ .^, Ave tliiuk, 



^/(anhis malaharka DC, order of the 

 oimarubere. 



^^ Aetius, tctraLiblos iv. serm. 4. c 122. 

 At must however be admitted that Nux 

 ^»(/«ca in mediaaval authors usually signifies 

 "^. Coco -nut, but also sometimes Nux 

 vomica or even Areca nut. For particulars 

 see Fliickiger, Documente zar Geschlchte dcr 

 ^harm, 1S7G. 18. 



/>c^ prahks d'or, i, (18G1) 341. 

 ^eoyraphie, I (1836) 51, 



5 In the work quoted at p. 282, .ote 3 

 e Kosmo^fraphle, ubersetzt von Lthe, i. 



03 „A new edition of th;s uork, by I rot. 

 Winkelinann, was published in 18 . 4 

 8 Danske La^^hoo ^uo c^ by ^ 



though mace is named repeatedly. 



