g4 PHARMACOPEIAL DRUGS 



ference being considered one of quality only. Cinna- 

 mon and cassia are mentioned as ranking in value with 

 gold, ivory and frankincense, and as being among the 

 most costly of the offerings in the temple of Apollo in 

 Miletus, B. C. 243. No mention is made in any old 

 historical document of its being derived from Ceylon. 

 It is accepted as being mentioned in the Chinese herbals 

 from 2700 B. C. to 1200 B. C. Many varieties of the 

 tree are found in India, as well as in Ceylon, in which 

 country, however, no mention of cinnamon is made 

 prior to the thirteenth century. Cassia and cinnamon 

 were employed as spices and remedies, especially by 

 the aborigines, and in the religious services of the early 

 peoples of the countries mentioned. These aromatic 

 drugs drifted into Europe as exceedingly rare and val- 

 uable products some time before the date of the East 

 India Company. Cassia was one of the ingredients of 

 the embalming mixtures used by the Egyptians (see 

 Myrrh). 



Saigon Cinnamon (Cinnamomum Saigonicum) , is de- 

 rived from undetermined species of Cinnamomum. 

 Ceylon Cinnamon (Cinnamomum Zeylanicum), from 

 the cultivated Cinnamomum zeylanicum. Oil of Cin- 

 namon, now official (U. S. P., 1910) as Oleum Cassice, 

 is a distillate from Cinnamomum Cassice. 



COCA (The Divine Plant of the Incas) (Coca) 



Introduced in 1880, under the name Erythroxylon (Coca). 

 Under the better known name Coca it was official in 1890 and 

 1900, but was dropped as a drug from the edition of 1910, Co- 

 caine and Cocaine Hydrochloride being here its only representatives. 



Erythoxylon Coca is a small tree or bush native to the 

 slopes of the Andes where, especially in Bolivia, large 

 plantations are cultivated. The leaves have been highly 



