508 MYR1ST1CE.E. 



45° C ; and dissolves perfectly in two parts of warm ether or in four 

 of warm alcohol sp. gv. •800. 



Nutmeg butter contains the volatile oil already described, to the 

 extent of about six per cent., besides several fatty bodies. One of 

 the latter, termed Myristin C2ff(0. C"H■"0)^ may be obtained by 

 means of benzol, or by dissolving in ether that part of the butter of 

 nutmeg which is insoluble in cold spirit of wine. The crystals of 

 myristin melt at 81° C. By saponification they furnish glycerin, and 

 Myristic Acid, C"ff'0-, the latter fusing at 58°-8 C. Playfair in 1841 

 was the first to isolate (in Liebig's laboratory at Giessen) myristic acid. 

 Myristin also occurs in spermaceti, coco-nuts, as well as, according to 

 Mulder, in small quantity, in the fixed oils of linseed and poppy seed. 

 Nutmegs according to Comar (1859) yield 10 to 12 per cent, of 

 myristin. 



That part of nutmeg butter, which is more readily soluble in spirit 

 of wine or benzol, contains another fat, which however has not yet 

 been investigated. It is accompanied by a reddish colouring matter. 



MACIS. 



Mace ; F. Mads ; G. Mads, Muskathluthe. 



Botanical Origin — Myristica fragrans Houttuyn (see p. 502). 

 The seed which, deprived of its hard outer shell or testa, is known as 

 the nutmeg, is enclosed when fresh in a fieshy net-like envelope, some- 

 what resembling the husk of a filbert. This organ, which is united, 

 though not very closely, at the base of the stony shell both with 

 the hilum and the contiguous portion of the raphe, of which parts it 

 is an expansion, is termed arilhis^ and when separated and dried con- 

 stitutes the mace of the shops. In the fresh state it is fleshy, and of a 

 beautiful crimson ; it envelopes the seed completely only at the base, 

 afterwards dividing itself into broad flat lobes ; which branch into 

 narrower strips overlapping one another towards the summit. 



History — Included in that of the nutmeg (see preceding article). 



Description — The mace, separated from the seed by hand, is dried 

 in the sun, thereby losing its brilliant red hue and acquiring an orange- 

 brown colour. It has a dull fatty lustre, exudes oil when pressed with 

 the nail, and is horny, brittle, and translucent. Steeped in water it 

 swells rather considerably. The entire arillus, compressed and crumpled 

 by packing, is about If inches long with a general thickness of about 

 ■^■^ of an inch or even at yV the base. Mace has an agreeable aromatic 

 smell nearly resembling that of nutmeg, and a pungent, spicy, rather 

 acrid taste. 



Microscopic Structure — The uniform, small-celled, angular paren- 

 chyme is interrupted by numerous brown oil-cells of larger size. The 

 inner part of the tissue contains also thin brown vascular bundles. 

 The cells of the epidermis on either side are colourless, thick-walled, 

 longitudinally extended, and covered with a peculiar cuticle of broad, 



^ On the nature and origin of this ii. (1870) 499; also Z>ie<»onna»Vc de .5o<an- 

 organ, see Bail] on, Hhtoire des Plantes, ique. 



