per, and cinnamon, nutmeg was used extensively in Europe in the preservation of food, for flavoring, and as medicine. But it had another, more important role as well. Nutmeg was thought to protect against plague, the Black Death that sporadically swept across Europe between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries.
Of course, we now know that the Black Death was a bacterial disease transmitted from infected rats through the bites of fleas. So wearing a nutmeg in a small bag around the neck to ward off the plague may seem just another medieval superstition-until we consider the chemistry of nutmeg. The characteristic smell of nutmeg is due to isoeugenol. Plants develop compounds like isoeugenol as natural pesticides, as defenses against grazing predators, against insects, and fungi. It's entirely possible that the isoeugenol in nutmeg acted as a natural insecticide to repel fleas. (Then again, if you were wealthy enough to afford nutmeg, you probably lived in less crowded conditions with fewer rats and fewer fleas, thus limiting your exposure to the plague.)
Whether nutmeg was effective against the plague or not, the volatile and aromatic molecules it contained were undoubtedly responsible for its esteem and value. The exploration and exploitation that accompanied the spice trade, the Treaty of Breda, and the fact that New Yorkers are not New Amsterdamers can be attributed to the compound isoeugenol.
Considering the story of isoeugenol has led to contemplating many other compounds that have changed the world, some of them well known and still vitally important to world economy or to human health, and others that have faded into obscurity. All of the chemicals have been responsible for either a key event in history or for a series of events that altered society.
We decided to write this book to tell the stories of the fascinating connections between chemical structures and historical episodes, to uncover how seemingly unrelated events have depended on similar chemical structures, and to understand the extent to which the development of society has depended on the chemistry of certain com
--pg.5, Napoleon's Buttons