Ill 
NUTMEGS AND MACE 
153 
This substance is used for certain soaps, and as an 
outward application for rheumatism and sprains, and 
is an important ingredient in pitch plaster and other 
similar plasters. It has a certain amount of acridity, and 
will blister the skin after being rubbed in for some time. 
The field for nutmegs as a spice is much larger than 
that as a material for oil, and the suggestion to make 
the oil and ship it from the West Indies, instead of the 
nutmeg itself, would hardly be worth trying. Messrs. 
Schimmel, in their semi-annual Keport for October 1909, 
state, “ the nutmeg oil remans unchanged at low prices. 
There has been no lack of cheap nutmegs suitable 
for distilling.” 
OTHER SPECIES OF NUTMEGS 
There are several species of wild nutmegs in India, 
the seeds of which are used chiefly for oils and soaps. 
Myristica canarica, Bedd., has a small seed like 
a marble, about 1 to in. long. It is a native of 
Southern India. The seeds are only used in making 
locally used candles. 
M. malabarica, Lam., has an oblong, tawny and 
hairy seed, longer than the true nutmeg, and as broad. 
The seed is in. long and f in. through. The shell is 
black and wrinkled longitudinally, and the kernel is full 
of a red oily juice. The seeds are only used for the oil, 
made into an ointment for ulcers and rheumatism, and 
as an adulterant for the true nutmeg. The aril is also 
used for adulterating mace, and is known as Bombay 
mace. It is deficient in the aromatic essential oil. 
M. Bicuhyha, Schott., and M, officinalis, Mart., and 
M. sebifera, Sw., from Brazil; M. Otoha, H. B. K. of New 
Granada ; M. guatemalensis, of Guatemala ; M. surina- 
mensis, of West Indies; M, angolcnsis, Welw., of Gaboon; 
and M. laurifolia, of Ceylon and Malaya, have all been 
utilised as vegetable - fat producers. They have no 
value as spice, however, as they are usually deficient 
in myristicin.^ 
^ D. Hooper, Agricultural Ledger, 1907, 3. 
