218 MYRISTICA FRAGRANS 



is composed of about 6 parts of the volatile oil of nutmeg already 

 described, and several fatty bodies, the more important of which 

 has been termed Myristicin or Myristin, which by saponification 

 yield Myristic Acid and Glycerine. 



Expressed oil of nutmeg is a useful stimulant application in 

 chronic rheumatism, paralysis,' and sprains, for which purpose it 

 may be advantageously combined with Soap Liniment. It is 

 an ingredient in the Pitch Plaster and Warm Plaster of the 

 British Pharmacopoeia. 



4. MACIS. Mace. This substance is only official in the 

 Pharmacopoeia of the United States. As already noticed mace is 

 the aril of the seed. After being stripped from the nut in the 

 manner previously described, it is prepared for the market by being 

 dried in the sun; or in rainy weather by artificial heat. It 

 is then commonly sprinkled by the Dutch with salt water, with 

 the view of contributing to its preservation. Mace is principally 

 derived from the Banda Islands, and is received indirectly from 

 Java and Sumatra. 



Mace occurs in pieces, which are generally called blades. 

 These are flat, smooth, irregularly slit, slightly flexible or brittle, 

 somewhat translucent, exuding oil on pressure of a reddish or 

 orange-yellow colour, and resembling nutmegs in odour and taste. 

 Before being dried mace has a brilliant red hue, but this it 

 commonly loses in drying. 



The mace of the long nutmeg is very inferior, being dark 

 coloured, very brittle, and with but little taste and odour. 



The essential constituents of mace are from 6 to 9 per cent, of 

 a volatile oil which closely resembles the volatile oil of nutmeg, 

 and, according to Fliickiger and Hanbury, of about 24*5 per cent, 

 of a balsamic substance consisting of resin and semi-resinified 

 essential oil. 



The properties and uses of mace are essentially the same as 

 those of the nutmeg, but it is comparatively little employed in 

 medicine ; its principal consumption is as a condiment. 



Per. Mat. Med., vol. ii, pt. 1, p. 472 ; Pharmacographia, p. 453 ; 

 U. S. Disp., by W. and B., pp. 569 and 604; Steph. and 



