Chemical examination and physiological action of nutmeg / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway.

  • Frederick Belding Power
Date:
[1908]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Chemical examination and physiological action of nutmeg / by Frederick B. Power and Arthur H. Salway. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    8/20 page 568
    December, 1908. specially considered here. The opportunity may, however, be taken of presenting a few comments on the requirements made for this essential oil by the United States and British Pharmacopoeias. In the “ United States Pharmacopoeia ” (8th revision) the specific gravity of this oil was given as 0.862 to 0.910 at 250 C., and in the list of additions and corrections to June 1, 1907, these figures were altered to 0.884 t0 0.924. It is evident, however, that in this altera- tion an error has been made, and that the limits were intended to be placed at 0.864 to 0.924 at 250 C. (compare the Semi-annual Report of Schimmel & Co., Leipzig, April, 1906, p. 71). The “British Pharmacopoeia ” requires a specific gravity of 0.870 to 0.910 at 15.5° C., the German 0.890 to 0.930, and the Belgian 0.865 to 0.920 at 150 C. The last-mentioned limits would appear to be those most in accordance with normal products of distillation.1 In this con- nection it is of interest to note that the present “ German Phar- macopoeia ” (4th edition, 1900) has adopted for the essential oil of nutmeg (“ Aetherisches Muskatnussol ”) the Latin title of Oleum Macidis. This not only involves an etymological inaccuracy, but also the assumption that the essential oils of nutmeg and mace are identical in character and composition, which has not as yet been proved to be the case. In the second (1882) and third (1890) editions of the “ German Pharmacopoeia ” Oleum Macidis was cor- rectly defined as mace oil (“ Mascisol ”), and the last-mentioned title and definition have been adopted by the “ Swedish Pharma- copoeia ” (Pharmacopcca svecica, ed. VIII) with the following requirements: specific gravity at 150 C. = 0.855 — 0.930; optically dextrogyrate; soluble in 3 parts of alcohol (see Semi-annual Report of Schimmel & Co., April, 1902, p. 73). The “ United States Pharmacopoeia,” in its latest edition, has introduced a requirement for oil of nutmeg, evidently adapted from the “ British Pharmacopoeia,” which is as follows: “ When 2 or 3 c.c. of oil are evaporated on a water-bath, no residue which crys- tallizes on cooling should be left.” The purpose of this test, as stated in the “ British Pharmacopoeia,” is to ensure the “ absence of the concrete oil of nutmeg.” It is likely, however, to involve the exclusion of constituents of a normal essential oil which are not without considerable value, for any crystalline residue which would be obtained from a genuine oil under these conditions would 1 Compare Allen and Brewis, Pharm. Journ., 1901, 66, p. 328.
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