M Y R 
M Y R 
M Y R 
the branches to them with long hooks. Some 
are employed in opening them immediately, 
and in taking off the green shell or first 
rind, which is laid together in a heap in the 
woods, where in time it putrefies. As soon as 
the putrefaction has taken place, there 
spring up a kind ot mushrooms, called do- 
led moschalyni, of a blackish colour, arid 
much valued by the natives, who consider 
them as delicate eating. Vv lien the nuts arc- 
stripped of their first rind, they are carried 
home, and the mace is carefully taken off 
with a small knife. The mace, which is of 
I a beautiful red, but afterwards assumes a 
darkish red colour, is laid to dry in the sun 
' for the space of a day, and is then removed 
to a place less exposed to his rays, where it 
remains for eight days that it may soften a 
little. They afterwards moisten it with sea- 
water, to prevent it from drying too much, 
or from losing its oil. They are careiul, 
however, not to employ too much water, 
lest it should become putrid, and be devour- 
ed by the 'worms. It is last of all put into 
small bags, anti squeezed very close. 
; The nuts, whicli are still covered with 
J. their ligneous shell, are for three days expos- 
ed to the sun, and afterwards- dried before 
a fire, till they emit a sound, when they are 
shaken ; they then beat them with small 
sticks in order to remove their shell, whicli 
flies off in pieces. These -nuts are distribut- 
ed into three parcels ; the first of which con- 
tains the largest and most beautiful, which 
are destined to be brought to Europe ; the 
second contains such as are reserved for the 
: use of the inhabitants ; and the third contains 
the smallest, which are irregular or unripe. 
These are burnt ; and part ot the rest is em- 
ployed for procuring oil by pressure. A 
pound ot them commonly gives three ounces 
of oil, which has the consistence of tallow, 
.and has entire!) tiie taste of nutmeg. Both 
the nut and mace, when distilled, afford an 
essential, transparent, and volatile oil, ot an 
excellent flavour. 
The nutmegs which have been thus se- 
lected, would soon corrupt if they were not 
watered, or rather pickled, with lime-water 
made from calcined shell-fish, which they 
dilute with salt water till it attains the con- 
sistence of fluid pap. Into this mixture they 
plunge the nutmegs, contained in small bas- 
kets, two or three times, till they are c om- 
pletely covered over with the liquor. They 
are afterwards laid in a heap, where they 
heat, and lose their superfluous moisture by 
evaporation. W hen they have sweated suf- 
ficiently, they are then properly prepared, 
and nt for a sea-voyage. 
The medicinal qualities of nutmeg are sup- 
posed to be aromatic, anodyne, stomachic, 
and astringent; and with a view to the last 
mentioned effects, it has been much used in 
diarrhoeas and dysenteries. To many people 
the aromatic flavour of nutmeg is very 
agreeable; they however should be cautious 
not to use it in large quantities, as it is apt 
to affect the head, and even to manifest an 
hypnotic power fh such a degree as to prove 
extremely dangerous. Bontius speaks ot 
this as a frequent occurrence in India; unu 
Dr. Cullen relates a remarkable instance of 
this soporific effect of the nutmeg, which fell 
under his own observation, and hence con- 
cludes, that in apoplectic and paralytic cases 
this spice may be very improper. He ob- 
serves that a person by mistake took two 
drams or a little more of powdered nutmeg ; 
he felt it warm in his stomach, without any 
uneasiness; but in about an hour alter he 
had taken it he was seized with a drowsiness, 
which araduaLu’ increased to a complete 
stupor and ifBn-ibility ; and not long after 
fie was found fallen from his chair, h iug on 
the floor of his chamber in the state men- 
tioned. Being laid abed he fell asleep ; 
but waking a little from time to time, he was 
quite delirious ; and he thus continued al- 
ternately sleeping and delirious for several 
hours. By degrees, however, both these 
symptoms diminished ; so that in about six 
hours from the time of taking the nutmeg- 
ire was pretty well recovered from both. 
Although he still complained of head-ache, 
and some drowsiness, he slept naturally and 
quietly the following night, and next day was 
quite in his ordinary health. 
The officinal preparations of nutmeg are, a 
spirit and essential oil; and the nutmeg in 
substance roasted, to render it more astrin- 
gent. Both the spice itself and its essential 
oil enter several compositions, as the con- 
fectio aromatica, spiritus aiftmonia?, com'.,&c. 
Mace possesses qualities similar to those of 
the nutmeg, but is less astringent, and its 
oil is supposed to be more volatile and 
acrid. 
MYRMECIA, a genus of the class and 
order tetrandria monogynia ; the calyx is 
tubular, five-toothed ; cor. one-petalled ; 
germ five glands at the base ; stigma bila- 
melate ; caps, two-vaived. There is one 
species, a shrub of Guiana. 
MYRMECOPHAGA, Ant-eater, a 
genus of quadrupeds ol the order bruta. The 
generic character is, teeth none ; tongue 
cylindric, extensile; mouth lengthened into 
a somewhat tubular form ; body covered with 
hair. The animals of this genus live entirely 
on insects, more particularly on the various 
kinds of ants-; in order to obtain which, they 
extend their tongue, which is of a very great 
lengtii, and of a roundish or worm-like form, 
into the nests pt those insects; and when, by 
means of the viscid moisture with which it 
is covered, a sufficient number are sec ured, 
they retract it suddenly into the mouth, and 
swallow them. A part of the generic cha- 
racter of the myrmecophaga is the total want 
of teeth, in which particularity it resembles 
no other animals except those of the genus 
manis, in which the same circumstance takes 
place. There are, however, in the ant-eaters, 
according to the observations of Mons. 
Broussunet, certain bones or processes not 
unlike teeth, situated deep at the entrance of 
the gullet or oesophagus ; or rather, accord- 
ing to the celebrated Camper, at the lower 
end of the jaws. The species of ant-eaters 
are uot numerous. 
1. Myrmecophaga jubata, great ant-eater. 
This is by far the largest of the ant-eaters, 
being upwards of seven feet in length, from 
the tip of the nose to the end of the tail ; but 
if measured to the origin of the tail, it is no 
more ihan about live feet and a half. It is an 
animal of an uncouth appearance; the head 
is small ; the snout vei y long ; the eyes 
small; the ears short and round; the shoul- 
ders thick and muscular, from whence the 
body tapers towards the tail ; but the thighs 
247 
are thick and stout ; the colour of the animal 
is a deep grey, with a very broad band of 
black running from the neck downwards on 
each side the body, growing gradually narrow- 
er as it passes down ; this black band is accom- 
panied on ‘he upper part bv a streak of white;, 
the fore legs are of a lighter cast than the 
hinder ; and have a patch or spot of black 
in front not much above the foot; the tail is 
black, extremely long and bushy; the hair 
on the whole body, but especially on the tail, 
is very harsh and coarse : there are four toes 
on the fore-feet, and five on the hind: the 
two middle claws of the forefeet are extreme- 
ly large and strong ; which render this crea- 
ture, though destitute of teeth, a very formi, 
dable adversary ; since it has been known to 
destroy animals of much greater apparent 
strength than itself; fixing its claws upon 
them, and exerting such powerful strength as 
to kill them by continued laceration and 
pressure. It is a native of Brasil and Gui- 
ana; it is chiefly a noctqrnal animal, and is 
said to sleep during the g.eatest part ot the 
day in retired places. Its pace is somewhat 
slow, and its manners dull and heavy. It 
is said to swim with ease; at which time it 
flings its tail over its back. A living speci- 
men was some years ago brought into Spain, 
and kept in the royal menagerie at Madrid;, 
in this state of confinement it would readily 
eat raw meat cut small, and was said to swal- 
low four or rive pounds in a day. Its length 
was six feet, from the nose to the end of the- 
tail, and its height was two feet. 
2. Myrmecophaga didactvla, little ant- 
eater. This is an animal of great elegance. 
It is not superior in size to a squirrel ; mea- 
suring little more than seven inches from the 
nose to the tail, which is longer than the body 
and head : the head is small ; the snout 
sharpened, and slightly bent downwards; the 
legs are short ; the fore feet have only two- 
claws on each, the exterior one much larger 
and stronger than the interior; on each of 
the hind feet are four claws of moderate size ; 
the ears are very small, and hid in the fur 
the eyes are also small. The whole animal 
is covered with a beautiful soft, and some- 
what crisped or curled fur, of a pale yellow 
colour, or rather yellow-brown ; the tail, 
which is very thick at the beginning or base, 
gradually tapers to the tip ; and the lower 
surface, for about the space of four inches 
from the tip, is bare ; the tail in this species 
being prehensile, and the animal commonly 
residing on trees, and preying on ants, by- 
means of its long tongue, in the manner of 
other species. It is a native of G uiana. See 
Plate IS at. Idist. fig. 290. 
3. Myrmecophaga aculeata, aculeated 
ant-eater. The aculeated ant-eater is one of 
those curious animals which have been lately- 
discovered in the vast island, or rather conti- 
nent, of Australasia or New Holland; and is 
a striking instance of that beautiful gradation,, 
so frequently observed in the animal king- 
dom, by which creatures of one tribe or genus 
approach to those of a very different one. 
it forms a connecting link between the very 
distant Limnean genera of hystrix (porcu- 
pine) and myrmecophaga (ant-eater), having 
the external coating and general appearance 
of the one, with the mouth and peculiar ge- 
neric characters of the other. This animal, 
so far as may be judged from the specimens 
hitherto imported, is about a toot in length. 
