CINNAMON. 201 
Methyl cinnamate forms crystals which have a very pleasant 
odour, melt at 33°°4 and boil at 263°. 
Ethyl cinnamate is a pleasant smelling liquid boiling at 271° ; 
it is contained in liquid storax. 
Benzyl cinnamate (Cinnamein) is a constituent in Peru balsam, 
aud is formed when sodium cinnamate is heated with benzyl 
chloride. It crystallizes in prisms which melt at 39°. 
Hydrocinnamic acid is prepared by heating one part of cinna- 
mic acid for an hour with four parts of hydriodic acid of boilmg 
point 127° and a little amorphous phosphorus. The acid separates 
out on cooling in a solid cake, which is dissolved in ammonia and 
precipitated by hydrochloric acid in the filtered solution. The 
hydrocinnamic acid which separates is then distilled; the almost 
pure compound, containing only a small quantity of an oily 
substance, passes over at about 280°*. Hydrocinnamic acid 
possesses a characteristic goat-like odour, melts at 47°°5, and 
solidifies on cooling in long brittle needles; it boils at 280°, is 
readily volatile with steam, dissolves in 168 parts of water at 20°, 
more readily in hot water, and separates in oily drops when the 
solution is slightly cooled. It is readily soluble in alcohol, from 
which it separates in indistinct crystals +. 
Ethyl hydrocinnamate is a powerfully refractive liquid which 
possesses an overpowering odour resembling that of pineapple, it 
boils at 247°-249°. 
Oil of Cinnamon leaf is distilled in Ceylon from the leaves of 
the Cinnamomum Zeylanicum. Both in appearance and properties 
it very closely resembles the oils of cloves and pimento. It 
has a brownish colour and an aromatic penetrating odour. Its 
taste is exceedingly pungent. As examined by Stenhouse { its 
specific gravity is 1:053. It has an acid reaction, and when 
treated with solutions of potash or ammonia it solidifies, forming 
a butyraceous crystalline magma. Like clove and pimento oil, 
it is essentially a mixture of eugenol and a neutral hydrocarbon 
of the formula C,,H,,. Cinnamon-leaf oil is remarkable, however, 
for containing a small quantity of benzoic acid. When the crude 
oil was distilled a colourless oil came over, while the residue in 
the retort became gradually darker. The last portions of the oil 
* Ber. Deutsch. chem. Ges. xiii. p. 1680. + Ibid. xviii. p. 321. 
{ Pharm. Journ. Jan. 1855. 
