NUTMEG, in natural history, the ker nel of a large fruit, not unlike the peach, the produce of a tree called, by botanists, Msnisrica, which see.
The nutmeg is separated from its in vestient coat, the mace, before it is sent over to us ; except that the whole fruit is sometimes imported in preserve, by way of sweetmeat, or as a curiosity. See Macs., The nutmeg, as we receive it, is of a roundish or oval figure, of a tolerably compact and firm texture, but easily cut with a knife, and falling to pieces on a smart blow. Its surface is not smooth, but furrowed with a number of wrinkles, running in various directions, though principally longitudinally. It is of a grey ish brown colour on the outside, and of a beautiful variegated hue within, being marbled with brown and yellow variega tions, running in perfect irregularity through its whole substance. It is very unctuous and fatty to the touch, when powdered, and is of an extremely agree able smell, and of an aromatic taste, with out the heat that attends that kind of flavour in most of the other species..
There are two kinds of nutmeg in the shops, the one called by authors the male, and the other the female. The female is
the kind in common use, and is of the shape of an olive :- the male is long and cylindric, and has less of the fine aromatic flavour than the other, so that it is much less esteemed, and people who trade largely in nutmegs will seldom buy it. Besides this oblong kind of nutmegs, we sometimes meet with others of perfectly irregular figures, but mere lusus nature, not owing to a different species of the tree. The longer male nutmeg, as we term it, is called by the Dutch the wild nutmeg. It is always distinguishable from the others, as well by its want of fra grancy, as by its shape: it is very subject to be worm-eaten, and is strictly forbid, by the Dutch, to be packed up among the other, because it will give occasion to their being worm-eaten by the insects getting from it into them, and breeding in all parts of the parcel. The largest, heaviest, and most unctuous of the nut megs are to be chosen, such as are the shape of an olive, and of the most fra grant smell.