526 LAURACEtE. 



phlceum). Three different layers are to be distinguished on a transverse 



section of this tissue : — 



1. The external surface which is composed of one to three rows of 

 large thick-walled cells, forming a coherent ring; it is only interrupted 

 by bundles of liber-fibres, which are obvious even to the unaided eye ; 

 they compose in foct the wav}' lines mentioned in the last page. 



2. The middle layer is built up of about ten rows of parenchymatous 

 thin-walled cells, interrupted by much larger cells containing deposits 

 of mucilage, while other cells, not larger than those of the parencbyme 



itself, are loaded with essential oil. 



3. The innermost layer exhibits the same thin-walled but smaller 

 cells, yet intersected by narrow, somewhat darker, medullary rays, and 

 likewise interrupted by cells containing either mucilage or essential oil. 



Instead of bundles of libcr-fibrcs, fibres mostly isolated are scattered 

 through the two inner layers, the parenchyrae of which abounds m 

 small starch granules accompanied by tannic matter. On a longitu- 

 dinal section, the length of the liber-fibres becomes more evident, as 

 well as oil-ducts and gum-ducts. 



Chemical Composition— The most interesting and noteworthy 

 constituent of cinnamon is the essential oil, which the bark yields to the 

 extent of i to 1 per cent., and which is distilled in Ceylon,— very 

 seldom in England. It was prepared by Valerius Cordus, who stated, 

 somewhat before 1544, that the oils of cinnamon &nd cloves belong to 

 the small number of essential oils which are heavier than water, 

 "fundum petunt." About 1571 the essential oils of cinnavion, mace, 

 cloves, pepper, nutmegs and several others, were also distilled by uuiri- 

 therus of Andernach,^ and again, about the year 1589, by Porta. 



In the latter part of the last century, it used to^be brought to 

 Europe by the Dutch. During the five years from 1775 to \ilj^^- 

 clusive, the average quantity annualli/ disposed of at the sales oi ] 

 Dutch East India Company was 176 ounces. The wholesale price in 

 London between 1776 and 1782 was 21.s. per ounce ; but from 178-5 to 

 1780, the oil fetched 68s. to 688., the increase in value being ^doubtless 

 occasioned by the war with Holland commenced in 1782. Ihe oi ^ 

 now largely produced in Ceylon, from which island the *l"J"r!/^ 

 exported in 1871 was 14,796 ounces; and in 1872, 89,100 ounces. Xne 

 oil is shipped chiefly to England. 



of 



Oil of cinnamon is a golden-yellow liquid, having a ^P".^j ^ 

 1-035, a powerful cinnamon odour, and a sweet and ^''"^^^^/^-x^ig 

 burning taste. It deviates a ray of polarized light a very i . 

 to the left. The oil consists chiefly of Cinnamic Aldeliya^^ 

 C*5H^(CH)2COH, together with a variable proportion of ty^^'ocarbonb. 

 At a low temperature it becomes turbid by the deposit ot a ca^^ 

 phor, which we have not examined. The oil easily absorbs o.xys.^^- 

 becoming thereby contaminated with resin and cinnnmic 

 C«H'(CH)='COOH. I, 



Cinnamon contains sugar, mannite, starch, mucilage, and 



^Inlus1)ook "Deartiticiosisextractioiii- » J/oy/a- ^''atnraUs Ubri xx. ^^^P 



bus," imhlishod by Gesner, Argeutorati, 1589. 184. , ,„„, nnd iS^i 



1561, fol. 226. ^ ' * Cajhn Blm Boohs for lb-1 ^^^ 



- De.viedkma reteriel nova, Basilea',1571. 

 630-G35. 



