204 LAURINE.^. 



Cassia, unclcr the name of Kwei, is mentioned in the earhcst 

 Chinese herbal, said to have been written 2700 B.C., and also 

 in the Chinese classics. In the Hei'^ao-pen-tsao, written in the 

 8th century, mention is made of Tien-chu-kicei, Tien-chuis the 

 ancient name for India. [PharmacograpJna.) 



The bark of several species of cinnamon growing in differ- 

 ent parts of India was known to the ancient Hindus as 

 Tvach, *'bark,'' Guda-tvach, *^ sweet," or **sngar bark," 

 and the trees producing it as Tvak-sara, "having excellent 

 hark," and Tvaksvadvi, '^ having sweet-hark/' The aboriginal 

 tribes still scrape the bark from these trees and use it to 

 season their food, and have probably done so from prehistoric 

 times. 



The Arabians, through whose hands most of the cinnamon of 

 the ancients reached Europe, called the spice Kirfat-ed-darsini, 

 or more shortly Kirfah (the bark^ar excellence), and it is curious 

 to observe that the same word in the corrupted formof Kalfahis 

 still the commercial name of Malabar cassia in Bombay. Dar- 

 sini is the Arabic form of the Persian Darchini, and signifies 

 *' China tree," ddr being an old Persian name for a tree; it is 



/ 



thoi-efore probable that tbe Arabs first obtained the spice from 

 the Persians by the overland route from China. The same name 

 is still current in India for Chinese cinnamon, whereas the 

 Indian bark is properly called Taj, a word derived from the 

 Sanskrit Tmch, although in popular language Dalchini and Taj 

 are loosely applied to any kind of cinnamon. Ibn Sina follows 

 Dioscorides in his description of the different kinds of cinnamon 

 {ddt'sini) and cassia {salikheh), but later Mahometan writers are 



better informed, and are evidently well acquainted with the 

 difference between Ceylon cinnamon, China cassia, and Indian 

 cassia. Haji Zein (1368), speaking of Darchini, says "the best 

 is that which comes from Ceylon" ; concerning Salikheh, he 



sav 



.x:l5 



tree called Salhh ; there are several qualities, the best is of a 

 reddish colour, thick, and a little bitter to the taste, astringent; 

 when broken it has a fracture like China rhubarb, it is in long 



