MACE, the second coat or covering of the kernel of the nutmeg, is a thin and membranaceous substance, of an oleaginous nature, and a yellowish colour; being met with in flakes of an inch or more in length, which are divided into a multitude of ramifications. It is of an extremely fragrant, aromatic, and agreeable flavour; and of a pleasant, but acrid, oleaginous taste. Mace is carminative, stomachic, and astringent; and possesses all the virtues of nutmeg, but has less astringency.—The oils of mace and nutmeg, whether prepared by distillation or expression, are so much of the same nature, that they may be indiscriminately used. Macedon. fed for one another on all occasions. They give ease in cholics, and often in nephritic cases, taken internally from one drop to five or six of the distilled oil, or an equal quantity of the expressed; and externally, they are of use to rub paralytic limbs: they also assist digestion; and will often stop vomitings and hiccoughs, only by being rubbed on the region of the stomach. The nurses have a custom of applying oil of mace by expression to children's navels to ease their gripes, and that often with success; and we are assured, by authors of credit, that, when rubbed on the temples, it promotes sleep. 1Origin of the name.