CINNAMON-TREE. 121 



mon of Ceylon is of the same species as that growing in Malabar, 

 Sumatra, &c. differing only through the influence ot the soil and 

 climate in which it grows, or from the culture or manner of curing 

 the cinnamon. Mr. White and Mr. Combes, who have investigated 

 this subject with considerable attention, agree with Gracias, and 

 determine this question in the affirmative *. 



The use of the cinnamon-tree is not confined to the bark, for it 

 is remarkable that the leaves, the fruit, and the root, all yield oils of 

 very different qualities, and of considerable value : that produced 



* According to many botanical writers, the principal marks of distinction of 

 these plants are to be found in the leaf, which in the cinnamon of Ceylon is 

 more oval and less pointed than the others, and the nerves do not reach to the 

 margin ; while in the cinnamon of Sumatra they are said to be continued to the 

 extremity of the leaf. Respecting the bark it is well known to be less warm 

 and grateful to the taste, manifesting that viscosity on being chewed, which is 

 never observable in the Ceylon cinnamon. But Mr.White, with the assistance 

 of Dr. Matty, carefully compared the specimens of the cinnamon-tree, (com- 

 monly called cassia) which he had from Sumatra, with those from Ceylon, pre- 

 served in the British Museum, which were the collections of Boerhaave, Cour- 

 teen, Plukenet, and Petiver, and found the difference so inconsiderable, as 

 fully to justify his opinion. In Murray's edition of the Systema Veg.. we find 

 superadded to the description of cassia, " Esse modo Yarietatem pra;cedentis, 

 (cinnam.) foliisangustioribus et obtusioribus," Thunbergin Act. Scockh. 17S0, 

 p. 56. The difference of the bark itself is thus stated by Ray, " Officinae nos- 

 tras cassiam ligneam a cinnamomo seu canella distinctam faciunt, cassiam cin- 

 namomo crassiorem plerumque esse colore rubicundiorem, substantia duriorem, 

 solidiorem et compactiorem, gustu magis glutinoso, odore quidem et sapore 

 cinnamomura aptius referre, tamen cinnamomo imbecilliorem et minus vegetam, 

 esse ex accurata observatione Tho. Johnson." But Mr. White says, "From 

 the specimens I shall now produce, it will most plainly appear, that these 

 differences are merely accidents, arising from the age of the canella, the part of 

 the tree from whence it is gathered, and from the manner of cultivating and 

 curing it." And he observes, " If any conjecture can arise from hence, it may 

 be, that the cinnamon of Ceylon was formerly, as well as that of Sumatra and 

 Malabar, called cassia ; but that the Dutch writers, being acquainted with the 

 excellent qualities which the ancients ascribed to their cinnamon, chose to add 

 the name cinnamon to that of cassia; and in process of time they have found 

 the name of cinnamon more profitable than that of cassia, by which we choose 

 to call our canella, to our national loss of many thousands a year." (Phil. 

 Trans, vol. 1. p. 887.) How far the reasoning of Mr. White is really well 

 founded, we leave to the judgment of others ; it may however be remarked, 

 that his opinion is not a little supported, from the consideration that the cinna 

 mon plant varies exceedingly, even in the island of Ceylon, where Bnrmau 

 collected nine different sorts, and Seba actually describes ten. 



