Nutmeg is composed of 10% essential oils. They contain myristicine which controls stomach gases, and possesses a euphoric effect, though it is quite toxic.

From yesterday…
Nutmeg is best in small quantities. It is used as a flavouring and combats minor gastric problems but causes unpleasant effects in large quantities. It is even said that swallowing a few spoonfuls of grated nutmeg is enough to give you a "high" - with a headache the next day that you'll remember for a long time.

St. Hildegard, the sibyl of the Rhine, wrote down her medical discoveries in 1147, including the pharmaceutical properties of nutmeg. In this period, popular belief held that getting a nutmeg at New Year and keeping it in your pocket throughout the year would prevent you from breaking even the smallest bone.

This popular belief lasted in some form until 1917 and even later in some areas and rural regions. In fact, at the military hospital in Copenhagen, an injured soldier was causing confusion among the staff. Despite his condition, he was holding on tightly to a little cloth pouch hung around his neck and would not allow anyone to take this strange object away from him. When questioned about it, he said that the nutmeg inside protected him from boils and itching. It had performed so well for him over the time he owned it that he believed it would also protect him from the infection that threatened every wounded man following surgery.

More prosaically, the monks vaunted nutmeg's ability to prevent sore throats, hemorrhoids, scarlet fever and ailments of the spleen.

A 16th century monk, well-informed on the pleasures of the flesh, said that any man wishing to make the most of his youthful vigour should coat a certain part of his anatomy with nutmeg oil, which would guarantee unflagging activity for several days.

During the Renaissance, nutmeg was still considered a preventive medicine by western medical authorities but its properties were usually used to treat memory loss, dizziness and blood in the urine.

For their part, Arabs use nutmeg oil to combat itching, freckles and bad breath.

Nutmeg is regarded as a treatment for epilepsy in Slovakia and other places. The procedure goes as follows: get hold of a black rooster on a night [nuit de mitée - je ne comprends pas]; castrate it and implant a nutmeg - the rooster will thus no longer have any pleasure for a year, but on the feast of St. John the next year, you decapitate the rooster, remove the nutmeg and grate it. You mix it with water and drink this decoction which, the belief says, will prevent any new attacks of epilepsy.

In a book entitled The Secret Powers of Nature, written by 16th century Dutch physicist Levinus Lemnius, we learn that nutmeg does not react in the same way in contact with a man as it does with a woman. In fact, the science of the era showed that a nutmeg carried by a man would sweat, become juicy, and take on an attractive appearance and nice smell. A nutmeg transported by a woman would, on the other hand, become dry, wrinkled, dark and ugly, thus proving that men are different from women. Men bring health and give off a good odour, while women are impure and lack ardour. The account concluded by saying man is always higher than woman because his nature is nobler and stronger and he can even impart his physical energy to lifeless objects!

 

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To today…

Aphrodisiac - Plain
A spoonful of freshly grated nutmeg taken in the morning on an empty stomach can give you a 24 to 36 hour "high." Aggressiveness is reduced to zero. Problems dissolve. You float in a fuzzy world where life is easy. Of course there are side effects: muscle twitches, sensitivity to light, nasal discharge and diarrhea.

This practice has been traced back to prisoners and some young people who, lacking money or an intermediary, were looking for a drug able to detach them from the real world.

While in no way intending to recommend this experience to those who have never touched drugs, some psychiatrists suggest that those with a dangerous tendency towards hard drugs - LSD, crack, cocaine, heroin - try this much less toxic substitute which does not attack the cells, in order to gradually wean themselves off drug use and to decrease their dependency as part of the rehabilitation process.

 

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Carminative - Infusion 1
The oil contained in the nutmeg contains myristicine which controls stomach gases.

 

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Combats diarrhea - Infusion 1

 

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Combats nausea - Infusion 1

 

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Digestive - Infusion 1

 

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Combats indigestion

 

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Emmenagogue - Infusion 1
normalizes the capricious female menstrual cycle

 

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Sedative - Infusion 2 or liqueur
This is a light sedative that promotes sleep but can become a dangerous narcotic if taken in large doses.

 

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Recipes

Infusion 1
Grate a little nutmeg into a cup (250 ml) of boiling water; Sweeten to taste.

Infusion 2
Grate a little nutmeg into 1 cup (250 ml) of hot milk.

Liqueur

• grate 1 1/2 nutmegs into 600 ml of cognac or brandy;
• let macerate three weeks;
• strain and bottle;
• dose: take 1 tbsp. 30 minutes before going to bed.

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NB: MSComm has gathered this information from preventive and natural medicine and from the popular traditions of various countries for your information and enjoyment, but MSComm declines all responsibility as to its use and does not intend that it be used as a substitute for conventional medicine.