382 MYRRH 



MUSTARD. (Moutarde, Fr. ; Senf, Ger.) The Sinapis nigra, or common black 

 mustard, is the plant which yields the well-known seed used as a condiment to food. 

 Flour of mustard is prepared as follows : The seeds of black and white mustard are 

 first crushed between rollers and then pounded in mortars. The pounded seeds arc 

 then sifted. The residue in the sieves is called dressings, and what passes through is 

 the impure flour of mustard, which by a second sifting yields the pure flour. Common 

 mustard is adulterated with wheat-flour, and coloured with turmeric, being rendered 

 hot by pod -pepper. 



Mustard consists of : 



Myronic acid, an inodorous, non-volatile, bitter, non-crystallisable acid. 



Myrosine, a substance in many respects analogous to vegetable-albumen. 



Sinapisins, white, brilliant, micaceous, volatile crystals. 



Oil of Mustard. Volatile oil of mustard is colourless or pale yellow ; it has a 

 penetrating odour, and a most acrid burning taste. It is represented by the formula 

 C"H S NS 2 (C 4 H S HTS). 



Fixed Oil of Mustard. This constitutes 28 per cent, of the seeds. It has a faint 

 odour of mustard, and a mild oily taste. 



M. Lenormand gives the following prescription for preparing mustard for the table. 

 This is usually termed French, mustard : 



With 2 Ibs. of very fine flour of mustard, mix an ounce of each of the following 

 fresh plants : parsley, chervil, celery, and taragon ; along with a clove of garlic, and 

 12 salt anchovies, all well minced. The whole is to be triturated with the flour of 

 mustard till the mixture becomes uniform. A little grape-must or sugar is to be 

 added to give the requisite sweetness ; then 1 ounce of salt, with sufficient water to 

 form a thinnish paste by rubbing in a mortar. With this paste the mustard-pots 

 being nearly filled, a red-hot poker is thrust down into the contents of each, which re- 

 moves (it is said) some of the acrimony of the mustard, and evaporates a little water, 

 so as to make room for pouring a little vinegar upon the surface of the paste. Such 

 table-mustard not only keeps perfectly well, but improves with age. 



MUSTARD Oil.. See OILS. 



2VXUTAGE is a process used in the south of France to arrest the progress of 

 fermentation in the must of the grape, it consists either in diffusing sulphurous 

 ucid, from burning sulphur matches, in the cask containing the must, or in adding 

 a little sulphide (not sulphate) of lime to it. The last is the best process. See 

 FERMENTATION. 



IVTUTTOW SUET is much used in leather manufactories for tallowing hides, 

 Its composition is: carbon 78'996, hydrogen 1T700, oxygen 9'304. 



MYRICINE is a vegetable principle which constitutes from 20 to 30 per cent, 

 of the weight of bees'-wax, being the residuum from the solvent action of alcohol 

 upon that substance. It is a greyish-white solid, which may be vaporised almost 

 without alteration. 



MYRRH is a gum-resin, which occurs in tears of different sizes ; they are reddish- 

 brown, semi-transparent, brittle, of a shining fracture, appear as if greasy under the 

 pestle ; they have a very acrid and bitter taste, and a strong, not disagreeable, smell. 

 Notwithstanding the early knowledge of, and acquaintance with the use of myrrh, 

 we had no accurate account of the tree which yields it until the return of Ehrenberg 

 from his travels with Heinfrich during 1820-25, in various parts of Africa and Asia. 

 Ho brought with him a specimen of the tree, which had been described and figured 

 by Neesvon Esonbeck under the name of Balsamodendron myrrha. The plant is first 

 noticed by Alexander Humboldt in 1826. Pereira. 



Myrrh is of three qualities : The first quality, Turkey myrrh, occurs in pieces of 

 irregular form and of various sizes, consisting of tears, usually covered with a fine 

 powder or dust. The second quality, East India myirh, is imported from the East 

 Indies in chests ; it consists of distinct tears or grains, which are rounded or irregular, 

 and vary in size from that of a pin's head to a pepper corn. The third quality is also 

 East India myrrh, but it occurs in pieces of a dark colour, and whose average size is 

 that of a walnut. 



Myrrh flows from the incisions of a tree which grows at Gison, on the borders of 

 Arabia Felix. The tree figured by Humboldt is considered by Lindley as identical 

 with the Amyris Katafof Forskal. It consists of resin and gum in proportions stated 

 by Pelletier at 31 of the former and 66 of the latter ; but by Braconnot, at 23 and 77. 

 It is used only in medicine. 



