176 THE CHBMISTEY OF ESSENTIAL OILS
Nutmegs yield from 6 to 15 per cent, of essential oil, having the
following characters:—
Specific gravity
Optical rotation
Refractive index-865 to 0'9250
+ 9° „ + 30°
1-4780 „ 1-4895
The oil is soluble in 1 to 3 volumes of 90 per cent, alcohol, and
about 60 per cent, should distil below 180°. The oil usually carries-
over a little of the fixed oil of nutmeg on distillation, but this should be
present in traces only. Good oils, evaporated on the water-bath for
twelve hours should not leave more than from 1 to 2 per cent, of non-
volatile residue.
The oil distilled from the mace very closely resembles that from the
nutmegs, and distinction between the two is often impossible. Oil of
mace, however, rarely has a specific gravity below 0'890, and sometimes
it may reach 0'932.
The two oils are practically identical in their composition, and the
following details may be taken as referring to both oils. The early
researches on this oil may be disregarded, the chemistry of the oil
having now been carefully worked out by Power and Salway
l
and by
Semmler,
2
and to a lesser extent by other chemists.
The terpenes, a-pinene, camphene, /?-pinene, and dipentene have all
been isolated from the oil, as well as a small amount of cymene. The
body termed myristicol by Gladstone and Wright has been shown by
Power and Salway to be a mixture of alcohols in which terpineol, lina-
lol, geraniol, and borneol have been identified. A small quantity of
terpineol-4 is present, and also a minute amount of safrol. An alde-
hyde smelling of citral, and yielding a /2-naphthocinchoninic acid melt-
ing at 248° has been isolated. Eugenol, isoeugenol, and formic, acetic,
butyric, and caprylic acid in the form of esters are all present in small
amount, as well as a non-volatile monocarboxylic acid of the formula
C 12 H 17 COOH. A body has been described by several chemists under
the name myristicin, but this name should be retained for the body
isolated by Semmler
3
and examined by Thorns.
4
This body has the
formula C 1 1H 12 O 3 and is, chemically, 4-allyl-6-methoxy-l. 2-methylene
dioxybenzene, of the constitution
O
/\
CH2 6H 2 (OCH 3 ).C 4 H 7
\ /
O
According to Power and Salway the quantities of the various constitu-
ents present are as follows:—
Eugenol and isoeugenol 0*2 per cent.
Pinene and camphene 80
Dipentene ......... 8
A cohols about 6
Safrol 0-6
Myristicin ......... about 4The other bodies are present in traces only.
5Jour. 3 Chem. See., 91 (1907), 2037.
Ibid.•' Berichte, 23 (1890), 1803 ; 24 (1891), 3818,
4Ibid., 36(1903), 3446.