440 BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY. 



row indicating the position of the raphe; easily cut, the surface 

 having a waxy luster, and mottled by reason of the light-brown 

 perisperm penetrating into the yellowish-brown endosperm, the 

 shrunken embryo lying in an irregular cavity about 4 or 5 mm. 

 long, near the micropyle; odor and taste aromatic and pleasant. 



Constituents. — Fixed oil, sometimes occurring in prismatic 

 crystals, 25 to 40 per cent. ; volatile oil 8 to 15 per cent. The oil 

 is official as oleum myristicse and contains myristicin and a num- 

 ber of terpenes. Nutmegs also contain considerable proteids and 

 starch, the latter being colored blue by iodine solutions. 



Allied Plants. — Other species of Myristica yield nutmegs 

 which are used by the natives, as M. succedanea of Timor, M. 

 fatua of the Indian Archipelago, and M. Kombo of Guinea. The 

 kernels of the seeds of M. fatua constitute the long, wild, or male 

 NUTMEG. They are narrow-ellipsoidal, feebly aromatic and have 

 a more or less disagreeable taste. The seeds of M. oMcinalis and 

 M. Bicuhyba of Brazil have medicinal properties, a balsam being 

 obtained from the latter, which. is used as a substitute for copaiba. 

 The so-called African nutmegs derived from M. siirinamensis of 

 the West Indies soon lose their odorous properties. M. sebifera 

 of Guiana yields a fatty oil which has but little odor of nutmeg. 

 Fatty and ethereal oils resembling those of nutmeg are found 

 in the " American nutmegs " obtained from Cryptocarya moschata 

 (Fam. Lauraceae) of Brazil. 



Adulterants. — False nutmegs consist of exhausted powdered 

 nutmegs or defective nutmegs and mineral matter. 



GOSSYPIUM PURIFICATUM.— PURIFIED COTTON. 

 The hairs of the seeds of Gossypium hirsutum, G. barbadense, 

 and other species of Gossypium (Fam. Malvaceae), biennial or 

 triennial shrubs indigenous to sub-tropical Asia and Africa, and 

 cultivated in all tropical and sub-tropical countries (Fig. 166). 

 The seeds are hand-picked, freed from dust by screens or drums, 

 and the cotton removed in the cotton-gin. It is then freed from 

 mechanical impurities, deprived of fatty and other substances and 

 finally bleached. It is estimated that 1000 million K. of cotton are 

 produced annually. Long staple or sea-island cotton is obtained 

 from G. hirsutum, while short staple or upland cotton is derived 

 from.G. barbadense (p. 329). 



