COMPOSITION OF CINNAMON. CASSIA. 207 



secure their monopoly, all superabundant trees and oil were des- 

 troyed. 



This plant was known to the Hebrews and noticed in Scripture 1490 

 pears before Christ, they having received it from the Arabians. The 

 trees are grown principally in Ceylon : the annual imports into the U. S. 

 are $16,000. Cinnamon in chests and boxes is commonly small and 

 inferior. Ceylon cinnamon, which is the best, is cut obliquely at the 

 bottom ; other kinds are cut transversely, and there are 1st, 2d, and 3d 

 kinds of the Ceylon. The latter is thicker and darker,with a pungent 

 but bitter taste. Beside the Ceylon there are the Bombay, Malabar, 

 Java and Cayenne, which is most acrid and peppery. The Cassia lig- 

 nea, substituted for cinnamon, is thicker, in shorter pieces and less deli- 

 cate, but is of strong flavor. Many prefer it. Cinnamon is chiefly con- 

 sumed by chocolate makers. 



The composition of cinnamon is volatile oil, tannin, mucilage, color- 

 ing matter, resin, acid and ligneous fibre. The physiologic effects are 

 like those of other spices. It stimulates the stomach, and promotes as- 

 similation, but its repeated use induces costiveness. It is an agreea- 

 ble condiment in cookery, and is added to medicines to improve their 

 flavor, check griping, as a tonic and cordial, as an astringent in diar- 

 rhoea, with chalk, or vegetable infusions in low fevers, flatulent and 

 spasmodic affections of the alimentary canal, to check nausea and 

 vomiting, and in uterine hemorrhage dose, from 10 grains to half a 

 drachm. The oil used in medicine is obtained by macerating the 

 bark, reduced to grains, in sea water, and by distillation. Its elements, 

 per centum, are carbon 81, hydrogen 7, oxygen 10. It is employed 

 for paralysis of the tonsue, cyncope and croup of the stomach, but 

 principally with other medicines. Cinnamon water, spirit of cinnamon 

 and tincture and compound do. of cinnamon are used as above. The 

 powder of cinnamon, aromatic confection and aromatic plaster are also 

 medicinal preparations. The last is used spread over the region of the 

 stomach for dispepsia, to allay pain, nausea, &c. The confection is 

 made of cinnamon, cloves, saffron, chalk and sugar, mixed with water, 

 and used for diarrhrea, flatulency, &c. 



CASSIA, or Wild Cinnamon, laurus cassia, C. 10. O. 1. Legumi- 

 nosse, sp. 56-149. A tree grown in the E. Indies and China, and well 

 known to the ancients, as to moderns, for its spicy bark. It is inferior 

 to cinnamon, a more recent knowledge of which has mostly excluded 

 cassia. This being less expensive, however, it is much substituted 

 for cinnamon, especially for the oil, which is sold for it. The buds 

 are used in cookery and for other purposes, and imported from China. 

 One species, senna, an Arabic name, is well known in medicine. Nu- 

 merous species are found in S. America, some being shrubs and some 

 trees. 



Cassia lignea, or China cinnamon-, and the cassia buds are imported 



