M Y It I S T I C A. 
44G 
vour of the fpice in an eminent degree. Nutmegs, when 
heated, yield to the prefs a confiderable quantity of lim¬ 
pid yellow oil, which on cooling concretes into a feba- 
ceous confidence. In the (hops we meet with three forts 
of unfluous fubftances called oil of mace, though really 
exprefl'ed from the nutmeg. The belt is brought from 
the Eaft-Indies in ftone jars ; this is of a thick confiftence, 
of the colour of mace, and has an agreeable fragrant 
fmell; the lecond l'ort, which is paler coloured, and much 
inferior in quality, comes from Holland in folid malfes, 
generally flat, and of a f’quare figure : the third, which is 
the worft of all, and ufually called common oil of mace, is 
an artificial compofition of fevum, palm-oil, and the like, 
flavoured with a little genuine oil of nutmeg. 
2. Myriftica febilera, or fatty nutmeg: leaves cordate, 
oblong, tomentofe, underneath; fruits tomentofe. A 
tree of forty or fixty feet high; branching at the top; 
the branches long, tortuous, upright, and declining; 
fcattered here and there ; the leafy and flowering branch-, 
lets downy and ferruginous : the leaves cordate-oblong, 
Iharp, green above, and fmooth ; below downy, ancPred- 
difh : they are perfe£lly entire, and have fliort footftalks. 
The flowers are borne in dufters of five or fix, feflile. 
The fruit varies in fize and form on different trees ; being 
twice as large in 1’ome : it is oblong, the valves being 
produced into an obtufe cylinder. From the kernel is 
extracted a fpecies of j’ellowifh fuet or fat, which ferves 
for various medical and economical purpofes; and is 
made into candles. From the wounded bark flows a red 
acrid juice. Native of marlhy woods and hills in Guiana. 
3. Myriftica fatua, or wild nutmeg: leaves oblong- 
lanceolate, pubefcent underneath ; calyxes and fruit's vil- 
lofe. This grows in Tobago, and riles to the height of an 
apple-tree. It has downy leaves, and hairy fruit; the 
nutmeg of which is aromatic; but, when given inwardly, 
is narcotic, and occalions drunkennefs, delirium, and 
madnefs, for a time. 
4. Myriftica tomentofa, or long nutmeg : leaves ob¬ 
long, with numerous Ample parallel veins ; flower-llalks 
aggregate, fcarcely the length of the calyx, downy, like 
the calyx and fruit. Grows in Banda, Amboyna, and 
New’ Guinea ; flowering in May. Mr. C. Smith fent it, 
tinder the name of New-Guinea nutmeg, or long nutmeg, 
from Banda, in 1797. The branches and footftalks are 
much thicker than in the true nutmeg ; the leaves four 
times as large, often a foot in length, and three or four 
inches broad, oblong, or fomewhat obovate ; foft, and 
fcarcely vilibly downy beneath ; their veins much more 
copious, ftraight and parallel. The feeds are of a much 
longer form and proportion than the firft fpecies, and are 
fometimes fold in the fliops by the name of long nut¬ 
megs, though generally reckoned inferior in quality to 
the former. 
5. Myriftica daflyloides, or Malabar nutmeg: leaves 
oblong, with numerous Ample parallel veins; flower-ftalks 
aggregate, longer than the calyx ; fruit oblong, downy. 
Rheede deferibes this as common in the woods of Mala¬ 
bar, bearing fruit twice a-year, in June and December. 
Lamarck well obferves, that it feems very near our fourth 
fpecies, but, if the details in the Hortus Malabaricus be 
.faithful, mull be diftindl. The fruit and feed appear 
much like the preceding, but the latter has fcarcely any 
tafte or fmell, though the mace is not without fome fla¬ 
vour. Rheede fays “ the Turkilh and Jewifli merchants 
mix thefe nutmegs .with the true long ones, and the mace 
with good mace, felling them together. They alfo ex¬ 
tract from thefe inferior articles, an oil, with which they 
adulterate that of a more genuine quality.” 
6. Myriftica irya : (hell of the nut globular, deprefled 
a little, cruftaceous, thin, brittle, dirty white ; marked 
with fuperficial capillary veflels, regular, not wrinkled. 
Seed globular, w rinkled, with] tubercles brown bay. Al¬ 
bumen void of feent, of a white fuety fubftance, that may 
be grated, appearing as if it had been chewed by the red- 
difli-bay proceffes of the integument, and having a very 
void fpace in the middle. Embryo at the bottom of this 
cavity, final 1, greeni(h : cotyledons ovate, flelhy-foliace- 
ous, flattifti, from horizontal fpreading, radicle conical, 
inferior. Native of Ceylon. 
7. Myriftica iriaghedhi: ihell ovate-oblong, very like 
the preceding in its whole llruflure. Seed of the fame 
fliape with the {hell, deeply ftriated'and wrinkled ; brick- 
coloured, and, when moiftened, of a bright vermilion. 
Native of Ceylon. This and the preceding are from 
Gaertner, 
8. Myriftica cimicifera, or bug-nutmeg : leaves ovate- 
oblong, obtufe at the bale, fmooth beneath when full- 
grown ; flowers nearly feflile, in axillary tufts; antherte 
fix. Gathered by fir Jofeph Banks, in the tropical part 
of New'-Holland. Brown. 
Propagation and Culture. The nutmeg-tree not having 
been yet introduced among us, we cannot give any par¬ 
ticular direftions for the llove-culture of it. In its native 
foil, it grows in woods, and feems to be propagated by 
birds. We have no inllrudlion for the culture of it in 
the Eaft or Weft Indies, where it has been introduced, 
farther than what we are told by the French gardener in 
the Ifle of Bourbon ; that what he calls the royal and 
queen nutmegs are the only trees that always bear, and 
confequently the only ones to be planted ; and that their 
produce is as fure as i-f they were hermaphrodite trees. 
The kernel of the firft will produce only a male or barren 
tree; but the nut of the latter wiil always produce a 
fruitful one : fo that, if planters have a hundred queen- 
nutmegs, and one royal one, they will be fure of having 
a hundred fruiting-trees, and one male tree to fecundate 
them. Without attending to this, they might have had 
a great quantity of male trees to a fmall quantity of fe¬ 
males ; and they would not have difeovered the miftake 
till after five or fix years, when the trees came to flower. 
We Ihall add a few particulars as to the method of gather¬ 
ing, preparing, and preferving, nutmegs, in the countries 
where they grow ; and, of the ufes to which they are 
applied. 
When the fruit is ripe, the natives afeend the trees, and 
gather it by pulling the branches to them with long hooks. 
Some are employed in opening them immediately, and in 
taking off the green Ihell or firft rind, w hich is laid toge¬ 
ther in a heap in the woods, w'here in time it putrfefies. 
As loon as the putrefadlion has taken place, there fprings 
up a kind of mufhrooms, called boleti mofekatyni, of a 
blackifh colour, and much valued by the natives, wdio 
confider them as delicate eating. When the nuts are 
ftripped of their firft rind, they are carried home, and the 
inace is carefully taken off with a fmall knife. The mace, 
which is of a beautiful red, but afterwards allumes a 
darkifh or reddilh colour, is laid to dry in the fun for the 
fpace of a day, and then removed to a place lefs expofed 
to his rays, where it remains for eight days, that it may 
loften a little. They afterwards moilten it with fea-water, 
to prevent it from drying too much, or from lofing its oil. 
They are careful, however, not to employ too much water, 
left it Ihould become putrid, and be devoured by worms. 
It is laft of all put into fmall bags, and fqueez.ed very clofe. 
The nuts, which are ft ill covered with their ligneous 
Ihell, are for three days expofed to the fun, and after¬ 
wards dried before a fire till they emit a found when they 
are ftiaken ; they then beat them with fmall flicks in or¬ 
der to remove their (hell, which flies off in pieces. Thefe 
nuts are dillributed into three parcels: the firft of which 
contains the largell and moll beautiful, which are cleftined 
to be brought to Europe ; the fiecond contains luch as 
are referved for the ufe of the inhabitants; and the third 
contains the {'mailed, which are damaged or unripe. 
Thefe are burnt, and part of the reft is employed for pro¬ 
curing oil by prefiure. A pound of them commonly gives 
three ounces of oil, which has the confluence of tallow, 
and preferves entirely the tafte of nutmeg. Both the nut 
and mace, when diftilled, afford an eflential, tranfparent, 
and volatile, oil, of an excellent flavour. The nutmegs 
which 
