194. MYRI8TICEM 



essential oil a valitaLle adjunct to otlier drugs in tlie treatment 

 of diarAoea and dysentery ; they appear to relieve the pain. 



Description. — The following excellent description of the 

 nutmeg fruit is taken from the Pharmaco(jrcq)hia :—" The fruit 

 of Myristka fmcjram I's a pendulous, globose drape, about 

 2 inches in diameter, and not unlike a small round pear. It is 

 marked by a furrow which passes round it, and by which at 

 maturity its thick fleshy pericarp splits into tvo pieces, exhi- 

 biting in its interior a single seed^ enveloped in a fleshy folia- 

 ceous mantle or arillus, of fine erim-wn hue, which is mace. 

 The dark-brown, shining ovate seed is marked with impressions 

 corresponding to the lobes of the arilks j and on one side, which 

 is of paler hue and slightly flattened, a line indicating the 

 raphe may be observed. 



uropean 



the so-called nutmeg being merely the kernel or nacleas of the 



seed. 



fonn 



with a corresponding diminution in size. The London dealers 

 esteem them in proportion to their size, the largest, ' which are 

 about one inch long by /^ of an inch broad, and four of which 



will weigh an ounce, f stchiug the highest price. If not dressed 

 with hme, they are of a greyish-brown, smooth yet coarsely fur- 

 rowed and veined longitudinally, marked on the flatter side 

 with a shallow groove. A transverse section shows that the 

 inner seed coat (endopleura) penetrates into the albumen in 

 long, narrow brown strips, reaching the centre of the seed, 

 thereby imparting the peculiar marbled appearance familiar in 

 a cut nutmeg. At the base of the albumen, and close to the 

 hilum, is the embryo, formed of a short radicle with cup-shaped 

 cotyledons, whose slit and curled ed.gm penetrate into the 

 albumen The tissue of the seed can be cut with equal facility 

 m any ^ direction. It is extremely oily, and has a delicious 

 aromatic fragrance, with a spicy rather acrid taste." The 

 expressed oil of nutmeg is of the consistence of taUow, but 

 more friable, orange-coloured, and of a fragrant, spicy taste 

 and odour. It has a sp. gr. of -990 (5>«,,;,ot 



