MYRISTICE^. 197 



Commerce. — Value, Ee. 1-4-0 to Ee. 1-8-0 per lb. The nut- 



run 



larger seeds never make their appearance in this market. In- 



•etail 



weight and sell by number 



MYRISTICA MALABARICA, LamJc. 



Fig.—Bedd. Fl. Sf/Iv., t 269 ; Ehe^de, Hort. Mai iv.,>. 5. 



Hab. — Concan, Canara^ N. Malabar. The seed and arillus. 



Vernacular, — Ean-jaiphal> Ramphal (Mar.), Panam-palka 

 (MaVj. The Mace — Rampatri {Mar., Guz.), 



History, Uses, &C. — This drug does not appear to have 

 been known to the older Hindu and Mahometan medical writers, 

 but the following extract from the Makhzan-el-Adiviya seems 

 to apply to it. Speaking of true nutmegs, the author says : 

 ' Latterly the English have discovered a kind of nutmeg in 

 Southern India, which is longer than the true nutmeg and 

 softer, but is much inferior to it in oiliness, odour, and medicinal 

 properties," {MakhzaUy article " Jouz-hatcwaJ^) 



It is the iVtA;r myridicamasoi Clusius, and the Panani-pakaoi 

 Rheede, who says that the Turkish and Jewish merchants use 

 the nutmegs and mace for adulteration. Rumphius (i.,185) 

 notices it under the name of Mannetjes-nooten, and states that it 

 is used by the Javanese and Malays as a remedy for headache and 

 as an aphrodisiac, and is worn round the neck as a protection 

 from boils. It is also used by the Indians in Amboyna, com- 

 bined with opium and roasted unripe plantains, in dysentery. 



According to the editor of the Pharmacopoeia o/ India^ the 

 seed is used medicinally in the Madras Presidency ; it yields, 

 when bruised and subjected to boiling, a considerable quantity of 

 concrete oil, analogous to expressed oil of nutmeg, which is said 

 to be an efficacious application to indolent ulcers, allapno- pain 

 and establishing healthy action. An ointment may be made by 

 melting it with sweet oil. The seeds are used for similar pur- 

 poses in Bombay in the form of a ?e>, and the oil is also extracted. 



