128 NUTRITIVE PLANTS. 



on the upper side of a bright green, on the under whitish, and stand 

 alternately upon footstalks ; the flowers are small, and hang upon 

 slender peduncles, proceeding from the axillae of the leaves ; they 

 are both male and female upon separate trees. 



The nutmeg has been supposed to be the comacum of Theo- 

 phrastus, but there seems little foundation for this opinion ; nor can 

 it with more probability be thought to be the chrysobalanos of 

 Galen. Our first knowledge of it was evidently derived from the 

 Arabians; by Avicenna it was called jiausiban, or jausiband, which 

 signifies nut of Banda. 



There are two kinds of nutmegs, the one male and the other 

 female. The female is that in common use ; the male is longer and 

 more cylindric, but it has less of the fine aromatic flavour than the 

 other. This is very subject to be worm-eaten, and by the Dutch it 

 is strictly prohibited from being packed with the others, because it 

 will give occasion to their being worm eaten too, by the insects 

 getting from one species to the other. An almost exclusive and 

 very lucrative trade in nutmegs from the island of Ceylon was carried 

 on by the Dutch, but it is now transferred to the English, who have 

 become masters of the colony *. 



The seeds or kernels called nutmegs are well known, as they have 

 been long used both for culinary and medical purposes. Distilled 

 with water, they yield a large quantity of essential oil, resembling in 

 flavour the spice itself; after the distillation, au insipid sebaceous 

 matter is found swimming on the water ; the decoction inspissated, 

 gives an extract of an unctuous, very lightly bitterish taste, and with 

 little or no astringency. Rectified spirit extracts the whole virtue 

 of nutmegs by infusion, but elevates very little of it in distillation ; 

 hence the spirituous extract possesses the flavour of the spice in an 

 eminent degree. 



Nutmegs, when heated, yield to the press a considerable quantity 

 of limpid yellow oil, which on cooling concretes into a sebaceous 

 consistence. In the shops we meet with three sorts of unctuous 

 substances, called oil of mace, though really expressed from the 

 nutmeg. The best is brought from the East Indies in stone jars ; 

 this is of a thick consistence, of the colour of mace, and has an 

 agreeable fragrant smell ; the second sort, which is paler-coloured, 



* We write this in May, 1814. The approaching peace may restore it, but 

 it will most probably remain with the English. Editor. 



