152 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
commerce. Its volatile oil amounts to something 
between 3 and 8 per cent, and its odour and properties 
are due to a substance known as Myristicin, which acts 
as a narcotic on the cerebral functions in man, and less 
strongly on the lower animals. As pure myristicin is 
less active than a dose of nutmeg containing relatively 
less of that body, it is assumed that the nutmeg contains 
some constituents that make its absorption more easy.^ 
The nutmeg is little used in medicine, though it has a 
reputation as a cure for dyspepsia. 
Oil of Nutmeg . — The flavour and odour of nutmegs 
are due to an oil which can be obtained by distillation 
of pulverised nuts. These give from 8 to 10 per cent 
of a straw-coloured oil containing a substance known as 
myristicin. Oil of nutmeg is used for scenting soap. 
Nutmeg butter, otherwise known as concrete oil of 
nutmegs, balsam of nutmegs, butter of mace, or banda 
soap, is obtained by crushing nutmegs and pressing out 
the oil. For this purpose small or broken nuts, or 
those that are more or less worm-eaten and unsaleable, 
are crushed to a paste. The mass is then enclosed in 
bags and submitted to hydraulic pressure between 
heated iron plates. The oil comes out at first liquid, 
but on cooling sets into a tallowy orange -brown or 
whitish mass, more or less mottled and marbled. It is 
made up in the form of bricks about 10 in. long and 
2 in. square, and wrapped in palm or pandanus leaves 
for export. 
The nuts give from 20 to 25 per cent of the butter. 
It is chiefly made in the Dutch East Indies and Penang, 
but of late years a good deal has been made in Europe. 
It is rather firm in texture, and has a pleasant odour of 
nutmegs and a greasy and aromatic taste. It melts at 
45° C. and dissolves in four volumes of warm alcohol of 
*800, is partly soluble in cold alcohol and the rest in 
ether, and consists of a vegetable fat known as myristin, 
which is composed chiefly of myristic acid. 
^ Dale Power, and Salway, in American Journal of Pharmacy, 1908, 80, p. 12. 
Power and Salway, Wellcome Research Laljoratories, 87. 
