14? 



CINNAMON, CINNAMOMUM, AND 

 CASSIA.— CASSIA. 



Natural order, Holoracea. A genus of the 

 Enneandria Monogynia class. 



Cinnamomum or Cinnamum, among the 

 Latins, is the same with the KiwocfJLov and 

 KivctfjLov, or KivvdfJLoofjLov, of the Greeks. This 

 last name is derived from KiwafjLov and a/z^oy, 

 or from the Hebrew word D*p or j— Dp which 

 signifies a cane or reed, and the a^^ov of 

 the Greeks. 



This tree, the spicy bark of which was 

 so much esteemed by the ancients, on ac- 

 count of the sweet odour it afforded in their 

 solemn sacrifices, and is now so justly re- 

 garded for its astringent quality in medicine, 

 is a species of the laurel, Laurus, and a na- 

 tive of the East Indies ; the cinnamon being 

 principally confined to the Island of Ceylon, 

 whence it might justly be styled the Ceylon 

 laurel. 



It seems natural to man to covet things 



difficult to obtain, and to estimate their 



l2 



