Some notes on the nutmeg graters used in folk medicine / L.F. Newman.

  • Newman, L. F.
Date:
1943
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Some notes on the nutmeg graters used in folk medicine / L.F. Newman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Plate IV shows two sets : (1), (2) and (3) are wooden boxes, the middle one being a fine example in hard black wood carved to represent a bottle. The remainder are made of silver. (4) is a finely chased heart-shaped case and the open lid shows the position of the grater. (5) is a small egg-shaped example and, as the grater is in the middle, it can only contain half a nutmeg. (6) is a very unusual type, the grater is cylin¬ drical and protected by a sheath shown on the right. The lid is shown on the left. (7) and (8) are silver cases representing a barrel and an acorn respectively. (8) is finely engraved but much worn with many years of use and polishing. It will be seen that the wooden boxes are much larger and more clumsy than the metal ones. (2) is nearly three inches high while (1) and (3) are coarsely made and bulky. These examples form a small but representative collection in the writer’s possession. (4) was carried by his grandmother for many years and some were formerly in the possession of Miss Stock of Appleshaw, Hants. Other collections exist but are unknown to museums. Boxes may occasionally be seen in antique shops. Gold boxes were sometimes carried but the high decorative value of silver has always led to its use where orna¬ mental work is concerned, gold being merely a mark of ostentation and wealth. A parallel is afforded by the snuff boxes once universally carried by men. The commoner and cheaper types were made of wood or metal but the usual pattern was a silver one although for state occasions gold, china or porcelain snuff boxes were used. Snuff boxes have been very fully collected and described but up to the present time the nutmeg- grater, of equal interest and exclusively a feminine possession, seems to have escaped notice and the writer feels that the examples given may be of some interest to students of folk-medicine. Nutmeg-graters were an important feature of social life from the time of the general importation of spices from the East Indies. The Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) was known to the Arabian physicians and was, originally imported overland, into Europe.3 The trees have been introduced into Brazil, the Philippines and the West Indies from Mada¬ gascar (sp. M. acumata) but all the species are very restricted in their area of growth and trade supplies come mainly from the Banda Islands. The common East Indian species is grown to a limited extent in India, Brazil, Sumatra and Malacca but with only partial success.4 The nutmeg has always enjoyed a reputation as a carminative. 3 Pickering, Chron. Hist. Plant (quoting Aetius and Symeon Sethus). 4 StuTtevant. Notes on edible plants. 5 Pickering, Chron. Hist. Plant, 603.
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