42 FLORA HOMGEOPATHICA. 



Geographical Distribution. — The Molucca Islands, espe- 

 cially the island of Banda. The Dutch have endeavoured to 

 confine the Nutmeg-tree to three of the little clusters of the 

 Banda Islands, viz., Pulo Ay, Banda, and Nera. According to 

 Dr. Ainslie, the Nutmeg has of late years been cultivated at 

 Batavia, Sumatra, and Penang. An inferior and long-shaped 

 kind of Nutmeg is common in the island of Borneo ; and there 

 is a wild sort frequently met with in the woods of Southern 

 India, especially in Canara, which Dr. Buchanan thinks might 

 be greatly improved by cultivation ; this is the Myristica 

 tomentosa of Willdenow ; the Nux Moschata fructu oblongo of 

 Caspar Bauhin, and the Nux Moschata mas oblongior of 



Lobel. 



Parts used in Medicine, and Mode of Preparation. 



The Nut (formerly called the Female Nutmeg, Nux Moschata 

 foemina, Clu&ius). The finest sorts (and these only ought to be 

 chosen for homoeopathic purposes) are small, short, nearly 

 round, heavy, externally marked with reticulated furrows, and 

 white, from having been dipped for preservation in milk of 

 lime. Internally greyish-red, and beautifully marbled with 

 darker, brownish-red veins, from which oil may be easily ex- 

 pressed with the point of a warm knife. A less-esteemed sort 

 is larger, longer, lighter, less marbled, and not so oleaginous, 

 these latter are sometimes called Male Nutmegs (Nux Mos- 

 chata mas, Chtsius); those which are light, worm-eaten, and 

 marbled with black lines ought to be rejected. Both have a 

 strong, peculiar, grateful odour, and a powerful, bitter, aromatic 

 taste. The powder is greyish-brown, and somewhat fatty. 

 Nutmegs are imported without their shell, a practice which 

 renders them more liable to decay or injury from insects, and 

 which originated in the precautions taken Ion"* ago by the 

 Dutch, to prevent the tree from being propagated elsewhere 

 than in the Spice Islands. To make the homoeopathic prepara- 

 tion, the nutmeg must be first cleansed of the milk of lime 

 which adheres to its external surface, and then one part of the 



