218 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



to cinnamon, the woody fiber is comparatively small in amount, as is the 

 n umber of the stellate cells. Th e presence of starch is, on the other hand, 

 more marked. A view, therefore, of a true ground cinnamon and cas- 

 sia with polarized light reveals at once differences which are character- 

 istic enough to distinguish the specimens, and which are illustrated in 

 figures 46 and 47, plate XXIY. In the ground specimens which we have 

 had in hand, however, no specimens of true cinnamon have been found. 

 Reference was made, therefore, to ground samples prepared from au- 

 thentic specimens of Ceylon and Chinese barks, and before any micro- 

 scopic work is attempted it is necessary to make a comparative exam- 

 ination of this description to acquire a knowledge of the appearances 

 to be expected and which cannot be described in detail. Reference may 

 also be usefully made to Fllickiger and Haubury, Pharmacographia, for 

 many details in regard to .the growth, cultivation, preparation, &c. 



Of the addition of cedar sawdust, roasted hulls, oil meals, and min- 

 eral and coloring matter we have had but little opportunity to judge. 

 Adulteration in these markets is mainly confined to replacing cinnamon 

 by cassia, and the adulterants mentioned are found only in the lowest 

 grades, while their entire difference in structure make their detection 

 microscopically a matter of no difficulty. 



Schimper in his Anleitung zur mikroskopischen Untersuclmny der Nah- 

 rungs- und Genussmittel, describes in detail the appearance of these for- 

 eign substances which in Germany seem to be often used and which 

 Wood in Massachusetts has detected in the forms of ground crackers 

 and nut shells, and in Canada are represented by ground peas and 

 wheat, flour, and, as we have found in Baltimore, by minerals and color- 

 ing matter. As will be shown, the determination of fiber and ash are 

 valuable means of discovering the presence of such additions. 



CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND REACTION. 



Of the proximate composition of any of the barks but little is known. 

 Numerous determinations and analyses of the ash have been made with 

 a view to detecting peculiarities or the addition of mineral matter. 



Hilger* has recently found in five samples of Ceylon cinnamon the 

 following amounts of ash : 



Soluble per ct. 

 (1) 4.5 53.0 



(2) 4.8 72.3 



(3) 3.9 88.1 



(4) 4.3 61.7 



(5)-3.4 



Hehnerf in 1879 made an extended investigation into the substitution 

 of cassia for cinnamon, and examined the iodine test, finding it useless, 

 as has been the case when employed in our laboratory. He then inves- 

 tigated the mineral constituents, thinking that the more woody cassia 



*Arch. d. Pharm., 223, 826~ 

 t Analyst, 4, 223-228. 



