218 MYBISTICA FRAGRANS 



sun-dried for a few days; and when thoroughly dried as 

 above described on hurdle-like frames, they are prepared 

 for the market by dipping them in a mixture of salt water 

 and lime, and afterwards spreading them out on mats for 

 four or five days in the shade to dry. The first process is 

 regarded as the best. In the Banda Islands the smaller nutmegs 

 are reserved for preparing the expressed oil. The practice of 

 liming nutmegs originated with the Dutch, who by thus 

 destroying the vitality of the seed endeavoured to limit the cultiva- 

 tion of the nutmeg tree to their own possessions in the Banda 

 Islands and Amboyna. The process of liming nutmegs having 

 thus become an established custom is still very extensively 

 followed, for although in this country we prefer the unlimed nut- 

 megs, these are scarcely saleable abroad. The best mode of 

 preserving nutmegs would be in their natural shell (nutmegs in 

 the shell), but they are rarely seen in this state in Europe or 

 America, although preferred as thus prepared by the Chinese. 



General Characters, Varieties, Commerce, and Composition. 

 The nutmeg, which, as we have seen, is the dried nucleus or 

 kernel of the seed, is oval or roundish in shape ; it varies in size, 

 but rarely exceeds 1 inch in length by about of an inch in breadth ; 

 and averages about | of an ounce in weight. .The largest nutmegs 

 are to be preferred. The colour of the unlimed nutmeg is 

 greyish-brown, and hence this is called the brown nutmeg ; that 

 of limed nutmegs is brown in the projecting parts, and white 

 from the presence of lime in the depressions. All nutmegs are 

 smooth to the touch, marked externally with reticulated furrows, 

 and have a greyish-red colour internally, varied with darker 

 brownish-red veins from the projection inwards of their inner 

 seed-coat (endopleura) , so that the transverse section has a marbled 

 appearance. Their odour is strong and pleasantly aromatic, and 

 their taste agreeably aromatic, warm, and bitterish. 



Several commercial varieties of nutmegs are known in the 

 markets. These are distinguished from their geographical 

 sources, as Dutch or Batavian, Sumatra, Penang, Singapore, Java, 

 &c. The most esteemed, and those commonly distinguished till 



