206 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



agreeable taste. The seeds of M. officinalis and M. Bicuhyba of 

 Brazil have medicinal properties, a balsam being obtained from the 

 latter, which is used as a substitute for copaiba. The so-called 

 African nutmegs derived from M. surinamensis of the West Indies 

 soon lose their odorous properties. M. sebifera of Guiana yields a 

 fixed oil which has but little odor of nutmeg. Fatty and ethereal 

 oils resembling those of nutmeg are found in the " American nut- 

 megs " obtained from Cryptocarya moschata (Fam. Lauraceae) of 

 Brazil. , 



Adulterants. Kernels which are wormy or more or IQSS broken 

 should be rejected. Imitation nutmegs have been made by molding 

 the exhausted powder or other substances into forms resembling 

 nutmeg. These can be distinguished on cutting into the kernel, 

 or if it is made from a powder, on placing it into water it will imme- 

 diately disintegrate. During Colonial times, when spices were 

 expensive luxuries, imitation nutmegs were made in Connecticut 

 from the basswood, or linden (Tilia americana). 



MACIS. Mace. The arillode of the seed of Myristica fragrans 

 (Fam. Myristicacea3). According to Warburg the arillode arises in 

 the region of the hilum before the flower opens and fertilization is 

 effected. The mace, as it occurs on the seeds (see Nutmeg) recently 

 collected, is of a brilliant red color. It is removed by hand, dried 

 in the sun and acquires a yellowish or orange-brown color. It is 

 usually shipped to Java or Singapore for exportation. The genuine 

 article is usually referred to as Banda Mace. 



Description. In coarsely reticulate bands about 1 mm. in 

 thickness, the whole having the outline of the nutmeg, the basal 

 portion united, but with a small, irregular opening; usually in 

 compressed, nearly entire pieces, reddish or orange-brown, some- 

 what translucent, brittle when dry; odor and taste aromatic. 



Inner Structure. See Fig. 88. 



Powder. Yellowish- or orange-brown; very oily and with an 

 aroma resembling nutmeg, but more delicate; numerous fragments 

 with elongated epidermal cells and starch-bearing parenchyma, 

 intermixed with which are the large, transparent, more or less 

 spheroidal oil-secretion cells. The latter are about 0.065 mm. in 

 diameter and contain a yellowish or yellowish-brown oily substance. 

 The starch grains are of an amylo-dextrin nature, being colored red 

 with iodin, and the individual grains are mostly irregular, rod-like 

 and from 0.003 to 0.010 mm. in length. The addition of solutions 

 of potassium hydrate to the sections liberates the oil, producing a 

 yellow color. The use of concentrated sulphuric acid, in a similar 



