570  Chemical  Examination  of  Nutmeg.    {  ^cember  wo™ 
alcohol  and  ethyl  acetate.  Colorless  leaflets  were  thus  obtained, 
which  melted  at  134-1350  C.,  and  afforded  the  color  reactions 
characteristic  of  the  phytosterols. 
After  removing  the  alcohol  from  the  liquid  from  which  the 
phytosterol  had  originally  been  deposited,  the  residual  oily  product 
was  distilled  under  a  pressure  of  10  mm.,  and  fractions  collected 
which  boiled  between  70-200 0  and  200-2800  C./io  mm.  respectively. 
The  first  of  these  fractions  consisted  of  a  mixture  of  various  con- 
stituents of  the  essential  oil  of  nutmeg,  while  the  second  fraction, 
on  redistillation,  boiled  for  the  most  part  at  270-2740  C./io  mm., 
and,  at  the  ordinary  temperature,  formed  a  yellow,  transparent, 
extremely  viscid  liquid,  which  showed  no  tendency  to  crystallize. 
On  analysis  it  gave  the  following  result: 
0.2523  gave  0.6274  C02  and  0.1546  H20.    C  =  67.8;  H  =  6.8 
C18H2205  requires  C  =  67.9 ;  H  =  6.9  per  cent. 
This  substance  was  evidently  identical  with  the  compound 
C18H2205,  which  had  previously  been  isolated  from  the  expressed 
oil  of  nutmeg,  and  was  fully  described  in  connection  with  the  latter 
product  (loc.  cit.).    It  possessed  no  apparent  physiological  activity. 
The  Fatty  Acids. — The  alkaline  liquid  from  which  the  unsaponi- 
fiable  material  had  been  removed,  as  above  described,  was  acidified 
with  sulphuric  acid  and  distilled  with  steam,  but  the  distillate  only 
contained  a  small  amount  of  myristic  acid.  The  contents  of  the  dis- 
tillation flask  were  then  extracted  with  ether,  the  ethereal  solution 
being  washed,  dried,  and  the  ether  removed.  A  quantity  of  fatty 
acids  was  thus  obtained,  which  was  distilled  under  15  mm.  pressure, 
when  more  than  90  per  cent,  of  the  material  passed  over  at  196- 
1970,  the  remainder  distilling  from  197-2400  C./15  mm.  The 
portion  boiling  at  196-1970  C./15  mm.  melted  at  540  C,  and  was 
found  to  consist  of  pure  myristic  acid. 
0.5087  required  4.45  c.c.  —  KOH  for  neutralization, 
Acid  value  =  245. 
C14H2802  requires  an  acid  value  of  246. 
The  fraction  197-2400  C./15  mm.  was  only  small  in  amount  and 
contained  some  unsaturated  acid,  since  it  absorbed  bromine  in 
chloroform  solution.    On  digesting  it  with  alcohol  it  deposited  a 
