MACE. 



97 



The Wild Nutmeg of Brazil [Myristica Otoba) is another 

 shell-nutmeg; the shell is blacky thin^ and deeply indented 

 with marks of the arillus. It occurs very rarely. 



The False Nutmeg of the Indian Archipelago is much 

 used as a substitute ; it is the fruit of Myristica spuria. 



The fruits of several Lauraceous plants also bear the name 

 of Wild Nutmegs^ as — the Ackawai Nutmeg, the fruit of 

 Acrodiclidium Camara ; the Clove Nutmegs of Madagascar, 

 the fruit of Agat/iqp/iyllum aromaticum ; and the Brazilian 

 Nutmegs, the fruit of the Cryptocarya moschata, — all of the 

 Natural Order Lauracece, 



Used moderately, the nutmeg is a most agreeable spice ; 

 its fine flavour depending upon a large quantity of two sorts 

 of oil, one a colourless essential oil, and the other a yellow 

 vegetable fat called Oil of Mace. In large quantities the 

 nutmeg is injurious, acting as a narcotic. The quantity im- 

 ported is annually about 120 tons, of which nearly one-half 

 are re-exported. 



Mace, the arillus of the true nutmeg, is also a valuable 

 spice ; it is a flat branching membrane, not unlike the enve- 

 lope of a filbert, but of a' bright cinnamon-yellow colour ; 

 the flavour resembles that of the fixed oil of nutmegs. 

 Quantity imported in 1851, according to ^ Poolers Statistics/ 



H 



