MACIS. 509 



flat, riband-like cells, which cannot however be removed as a continuous 

 film. The parenchyme is loaded with small granules, to which a red 

 colour is imparted by Millon's test (solution of mercurous niti*ate) and 

 an orange hue by iodine. The granules consequently consist of albu- 

 minous matter, and starch is altogether wanting. 



Chemical Composition — The nature of the chemical constituents 

 of mace may be inferred from the following experiments performed by 

 one of us : — 17 grammes of finely powdered mace were entirely ex- 

 hausted by boiling ether, and the latter allowed to evaporate. It left 

 behind 5 57 grm., which after drying at 100" C. were diminished to 4-17. 

 The difference, 1"40 grammes, answers to the amount of essential oil, of 

 which con.sequently 82 per cent, had been present. 



The residue, amounting to 245 per cent., was a thickish aromatic 

 balsam, in which we have not been able to ascertain the presence of 

 fat; it consisted of resin and semi-resin ified essential oil. Alcohol 

 further removed 1*4 per cent, of an uncrystallizable sugar, which re- 

 duced cupi'ic oxide. 



The druj; havincr been thus treated with ether and with alcohol, 

 yielded almost nothing to cold water, but by means of boiling water 

 18 per cent, of a mucilage was obtained, which turned blue by addition 

 of iodine, or reddish violet if previously dried. This substance is not 

 soluble in an ammoniacal solution of cupric oxide ; it appears rather to 

 be an intermediate body between mucilage and starch.' The composi- 

 tion of mace is therefore very different from that of nutmeg. 



As to the volatile oil, of which several observers have obtained from 

 7 to 9 per cent.,^ it is a fragrant colourless hquid which we found, when 

 examined in a column 200 mm. long, deviated the ray 18°'8 to the right. 

 Its greater portion consists according to Schacht (1862) of Macene, 

 C'"H'^ boiling at 160° C, and distinguished from oil of turpentine by 

 not forming a cr3'stalline hydrate when mixed with alcohol and nitric 

 acid. K oiler (1865) states that macene is identical with the hydro- 

 carbon of oil of nutmeg (myristicene), yet the latter is said by Cloez to 

 yield no solid compound when treated with hydrochloric gas. Macene 

 on the other hand furnishes crystals of C'H'^jHCl. Crude oil of mace 

 contains, like that of nutmeg, an oxygenated oil, the properties of which 

 have not yet been investigated. 



Commerce — Mace, mostly the pi'oduce as it would appear of the 

 Banda Islands, was shipped from Java in 1871 to the extent of 2101 

 peculs (282,133 lb.) ; and from Padang in Sumatra (excluding shipments 

 to Java) to the amount of 457 peculs (60,933 Ib.).^ The spice is exported 

 principally to Holland, Singapore, and the United States ; Great Britain 

 receives about 60,000 to 80,000 lb. annually. 



Uses — Mace is but rarely employed in medicine. It is chiefly con- 

 sumed as a condiment. 



^ See my paper : Ueber Starke iind Cel- oil, which is equivalent to &\ per cent. ; but 



lulose in Archiv der Phami. 196(1871)31. Messrs. Schimmel & Co., Leipzig, oblig- 



— F. A. F. ingly inform us (1878) that they observed 



- In an actual experiment (1868) in the a percentage of from 11 to 17. 



laboratory of Messrs. Herrings & Co., Lon- » Consular Reports, August 1873. 952-3. 

 don, 23 lb. of mace yielded 2.3 oz. of volatile 



