650 
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
that it had a head and mane like the sea-horse, with a flexible 
horn like a finger, and that it fought courageously with elephants. 
He relates how shavings of the horn saved the life of a dog poisoned 
with arsenic, while another dog which had taken half the amount of 
arsenic died. [The belief in the horn of the unicorn being an antidote 
to poison is still prevalent in India.] 
[References. — Zinschoten, ii., pp. 65, 67 ; Bontius and Piso, lib. vi,, 
cap. iii., p. 92, fig. ; AinsUe, i., pp. 64, 65, and 590 ; Fluchiger and 
JSanhury^ pp. 213 ; Kliory^ p. 260.] 
COLLOQUY XXXII. 
Da Maqa e I*[oz. 
[Of Mace and Kutmeg — the pericarp and nut of Myristica fragrans^ 
Houtt.] 
The mace and nut are called respectively hunapalla (hunga-pala) and 
palla {pala) in the Island of Banda ; jupatri {jaipatri) and jaifol 
{jaiphal) in the Deccan ; heshase {hasahasaha) and jauziband and geauzi 
i^jouza-hovah) by Avicena and the Arabs, besides which there are many 
corrupt names used by Moors, Arabs, and Turks. 
Garcia says that mace was unknown to Galen and Dioscorides as 
well as to other Greeks, and also to Pliny. That macir as described by 
Galen was not mace is certain from the medicinal qualities he ascribes 
to it, while Dioscorides said it was the rind of a root. Although 
Avicena and Serapion knew the mace and nutmeg, their accounts are 
not free from confusion owing to their having been implicit followers 
of the Greeks.^ Ee says a preserve of mace made with sugar was 
pleasant to the taste and smell, and was considered good for the brain 
and for affections of the brain and nerves, and that mace in vinegar was 
imported in jars from Eanda, and was eaten as a salad. He describes 
the beauty of the trees when laden with the bursting fruit, which 
causes the exposure of the red mace. 
[References. — Mace Piso in Mantissa aromatica, p. 173, fig. ; 
Clusius {Acosta), p. 23 ; Zinschoten, ii., pp. 84-86 ; Ainslie, i., p. 200 ; 
Fluchiger and Hanhury, p. 456 ; Khory, p. 468.] 
^ Fluchiger and Sanbury (" Pharmacographia," p. 451) quote this opinion with 
approval from Acosta, but he merely adopted it from his predecessor, Garcia 
de Orta. 
