^'UTMEGS AXD MACE. 27 



about six per cent, of volatile oil of nutmeg, to which its odour 

 and taste are due. It consists principally of a vegetable fat called 

 Myristin, C ^ ^ H ^ ^ ^ (Propeiiyl t7imyristicatc) ^Yhich can be 

 extracted by benzene or ether from the portion of butter which is 

 insoluble in cold alcohol ; it forms crystals which melt at 31^C. 

 By saponification it furnishes glycerin and myristic acid C-^^^ H28 

 Og, which is fusible at 53^-80. According to Mulder, myristin 

 exists in small quantity in the fixed oils of linseed and poppy-seed. 

 It is also found in several vegetable oils and fats and in 

 spermaceti. The " butter " contains several other fatty bodies 

 (one of which is found in the portion which is most soluble in 

 alcohol and benzene) which have not been investigated, and a red 

 colouring matter. A small quantity of uncombined myristic acid 

 is also present. 



A false butter of nutmegs has been noticed by Playfair^ 

 composed of animal fat boiled with powdered nutmegs and 

 flavoured with sassafras. 



Composition of Mace. — The nature of the principal 

 constituents of Mace can be deduced from the following 

 experiments* ; " Seventeen grammes of finely pulverised mace 

 were entirely exhausted by boiling ether, and the solvent left 

 to spontaneous evaporation. The residue, amounting to o'o7 

 grammes, after desiccation at 100°C. was reduced in weight 

 to 417 grammes. The loss, 1*40 gramme being the essential oil, 

 which was consequently 8*2 per cent. The residue, amounting to 

 24*5 per cent, was a thick aromatic balsam in which we could find 

 no trace of the presence of fat ; it consisted of resin and semi- 

 resinified essential oil. Alcohol extracted from it 1*4 per cent, of 

 an uncrystallizable sugar which reduced cupric oxide. The drug, 

 after treatment in this way with alcohol and ether, yielded 

 scarcely anything to cold water, but boiling water extracted 1*8 

 per cent of mucilage, which assumed a blue coloration under the 

 influence of iodine or a reddish-violet after having been previously 

 dried. This substance is not soluble in an ammoniacal solution of 

 cupric oxide ; it seems rather to be an intermediary body between 

 gum and starch. The composition of mace appears therefore very 

 different from that of nutmegs." 



As regards this " intermediary body between gum and starch," 

 Tschirch states that " the aril of Myristica fragrans furnishes a 

 * F. & H. Hist, des drogues, ii. p. 223. 



