508 MYRISTICE^. 



45" C; and dissolves perfectly in two parts of warm ether or iu four 

 of warm alcohol sp. gr. -800. 



Nutmeg butter contains the volatile oil already described, to the 

 extent of about six per cent., besides several fatty bodies. One of 

 ■ the latter, termed Myristin Cm\0. C'Bs'Of, may be obtained by 

 means of benzol, or by dissolving in ether that part of the butter of 

 nutmeg which is insoluble in cold spirit of wine. The crystals of 

 myristin melt at 31° C. By saponification they furnish glycerin, and 

 Myristic Acid, (J'B''0\ the latter fusing at 53°-8 C. Playfair in 1841 

 V7m the first to isolate (in Liebig's laboratory at Giessen) myristip acid. 

 Myristin also occurs in spermaceti, coco-nuts, as well as, according to 

 Mulder, in small quantity, in the fixed oils of linseed and poppy seed. 

 Nutmegs according to Comar (1859) yield 10 to 12 per cent, of 

 myristin. 



That part of nutmeg butter, which is more readily soluble in spirit 

 of wine or benzol, contains another fat, which however has not yet 

 been investigated. It is accompanied by a reddish colouring matter. 



MACIS. 



Mace; ¥. Macis ; G. Mads, 3fusJcatUuthe. 



Botanical Origin — Myristka fragrans Houttuyn (see p. 50i). 

 The seed which, deprived of its hard outer shell or testa, is known jus 

 the nutmeg, is enclosed when fresh in a fleshy net-like envelope, some- 

 what resembling the husk of a filbert. This organ, which is united 

 though not very closelj^ at the base of the stony shell both with 

 the hilum and the contiguous portion of the raphe, of which parts it 

 is an expansion, is termed arillus,^ and when separated and dried con- 

 stitutes the mace of the shops. In the fresh state it is fleshy, and ot a 

 beautiful crimson ; it envelopes the seed completely only at the base, 

 afterwards dividing itself into broad flat lobes ; which branch into 

 narrower strips overlapping one another towards the summit. 



History— Included in that of the nutmeg (see preceding article). 



Description— The mace, separated from the seed by hand, is drie^ 

 in the sun, thereby losing its brilliant red hue and acquiring an orange- 

 brown colour. It has a dull fatty lustre, exudes oil when pressed wi 

 the nail, and is horny, brittle, and translucent. Steeped in w^ter i 

 swells rather considerably. The entire arillus, compressed and crumpi 

 by packing, is about If inches long with a general thickness of &oo 

 ^V of an inch or even at yV the base. Mace has an agreeable arof"^ ^^ 

 smell nearly resembling that of nutmeg, and a pungent, spicy, rat 



acrid taste, 

 M 



en- 



le 



_ , uniform, small-celled, angular paie^^ 



chyme is interrupted by numerous brown oil-cells of larger size. 

 inner part of the tissue contains also thin brown vascular buna • 

 The cells of the epidermis on either side are colourless, ^^^^^f, .J 

 longitudinally extended, and covered with a peculiar cuticle ot ^ro > 



^ On the nature and origin of tliis ii. (ISIO) i99; a.ho Dkiionnaire de Boa' 



organ, see Baillon, BiHtoive. des Planks, ique 



