SPICES AND CONDIMENTS. 



231 



forms the adhering coat of the kernel and penetrates into it, consists of soft walled, 

 red brown tissue, with small scattered bundles of vessels. In the outer layers the 

 endopleura exhibits small collapsed cells j but the tissue which fills the folds that dip 

 into the interior consists of much larger cells 



The tissue of the albumen is formed of soft-walled parenchyme, which is densely 

 filled with conspicuous starch grains and with fat partly crystallized. Among the 

 prismatic crystals of fat large, thick rhombic or six-sided tables may often be ob- 

 served. With these are associated grains of albuminoid matter partly crystallized. 



In carefully made preparations from the whole nutmeg the structure 

 above described can be made out by care and patience. In the ground 

 spice, however, of these characteristics only the interior parenchyma 

 cells with their starchy contents can be seen when mounted in water, 

 with the alternate use of common and polarized light. The fatty crys- 

 tals we have not observed, and the fragments of the endopleura or red- 

 brown tissue are characterized only by their color. In chloral hydrate 

 the starch cells and grains are swollen, but the red-brown tissue is much 

 more transparent, sufficiently so, in fact, to reveal any differences be- 

 tween it and any adulterant which might bear a resemblance. There 

 are but few bundles of fibers to be found. The structure as a whole is 

 so simple that the addition of any foreign material can be readily de- 

 tected. 



CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF NUTMEG. 



Analysis of these samples of nutmegs of the following origin have 

 been made : 



4512. Whole limed nutmeg, grocers. 



4513. Ground limed nutmeg, grocers. 

 4546. Ground in Baltimore. 



Fluckiger states that the volatile oil of nutmegs amounts to between 

 3 and 8 per cent., and that it is of the nature of a terpene. The fat or 

 fixed oil he places at one-fourth of the weight of the nutmeg, or 25.0 

 per cent., the principal constituents being starch and albuminoids. 

 Beyond these facts gathered by this authority nothing of value seems 

 to have been published in regard to the proximate percentage composi- 

 tion of nutmegs. 



Our results with only three samples are fairly concordant. The vola- 

 tile oil hardly reached the limit which has been mentioned. It is no 

 doubt a variable quantity. The fixed oil or fat, on the other hand, far 

 exceeds what was expected. Our more perfect methods of extraction 

 may be partly the cause of these results, and it may be also due to a 





