28 ODOROGRAPHIA. 



good illustration of the presence of aimjlodextrin as a normal cell- 

 content in the place of starch. He says it is distinguished from 

 true starch by being stained reddish-brown instead of blue by an 

 aqueous solution of iodine. The grains of amylodextrin do not 

 appear to contain even a nucleus of starch. As seen under the 

 microscope they have usually somewhat the form of a rod and are 

 often curved or coiled ; less often they are roundish or disc- 

 shaped ; they do not usually exhibit any evident stratification.* 



According to Dr. Hefelmann, the adulteration of powdered mace 

 in Germany generally consists in the addition of Bombay mace or 

 of other vegetable material (leguminous fruits) coloured with 

 turmeric. The presence of the latter is shown by the presence of 

 starch cells, which are not present in mace. Bombay mace may 

 be detected by boiling the suspected sample with alcohol and 

 filtering through a white filter ; in the case of pure mace, the filter 

 is stained a faint yellow, but in the presence of Bombay mace, the 

 filter, especially the edge, is coloured red. Another more delicate 

 test is to add Goulard's extract to the alcoholic filtrate ; with pure 

 mace only a white turbidity is occasioned, but when Bombay mace 

 is present, a red turbidity is obtained. The reaction given by 

 turmeric is similar, but it may be distinguished from that of 

 Bombay mace in the following manner : — A strip of filter paper is 

 saturated with the alcoholic solution, the excess of fluid removed, 

 and the strip drawn through a cold saturated solution of boric 

 acid ; w^hen Bombay mace is present, the paper remains unchanged, 

 but in the presence of turmeric it turns orange-brown. If a drop 

 of potassium hydrate solution is now placed on the strip of paper, 

 it causes a blue ring if turmeric is present, and a red ring if the 

 adultrant is Bombay mace.f 



The yield of volatile oil of mace has been very variously 

 estimated by different oljservers : Herrings & Co., having found it to 

 be 6 per cent. \\ Fliickiger and Hanbury, 8-2 per cent.; § Schimmel 

 & Co., 'i 11 to 16 per cent. This oil is colourless and very fragrant ; 

 its sp. gr. is 0-858 at 10°, 0-855 at 15° and 0-852 at 20° C. 

 (Schimmel); Guibourt states it to be 0'928 ; his sample was 



* Pharriiacographia Indica, iii. p. 195. 



t Pharm. Zeit., 1891, p. 122. See also Tschirch, an authority above 

 quoted, Pharm. Zeit., 1881, 74. 



:::F. and H. Hist, des Drogues ii., p. 223. 



§ Ibid. 



llBericht, Oct., 1887. 



