222 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



The preceding figures show that there is nothing particularly distinct- 

 ive between the cinnamons and cassias, and that the determination 

 of volatile oil points more to the character arid value of the bark than 

 any other, though, at the same time, there is nothing distinctive there- 

 in, as the variation in amount is so large in theciunamons as to at times 

 furnish samples containing far less volatile oil than even a fair cassia. 

 The percentage of ash is extremely variable, depending on the age and 

 quality of the bark. Saigon chips were found to have 8.23 per cent., 

 while a specimen of unidentified cassia bark had only 1.75 per cent. Cin- 

 namon bark will probably average less than cassia. Fiber, like ash, is 

 extremely variable, and forthesaine reasons ; 26.29 percent, were found 

 in Saigon chips and 33.08 per cent, in a cinnamon and from 14 to 20 in 

 ordinary cassias. This determination, therefore, reveals nothing, and is 

 of no assistance in detecting adulterants. 



Albuminoids are variable, but within narrow limits, the extremes being 

 4.55 percent, in Saigon bark and 2.45 iu an. unidentified cassia. The Ba- 

 ta via and Saigon barks appear to contaiu the most, over four per cent., 

 and this percentage would seem to be an indication of inferior quality. 



The amount of tannin, in these barks is extremely small, not reaching 

 in our specimens an equivalent of quercitanuic acid by the Lowenthal 

 process of two per cent. The addition, therefore, of material contain- 

 ing tannin can be readily detected, but in no case under our observation 

 did such an addition occur. 



Aside from the determination of volatile oil, chemical analysis seems 

 to be of little value. The principal dependence must, with our present 

 knowledge, be placed on the mechanical and microscopic examination, 

 since the worst mixtures, 4868 and 4861), scarcely revealed in their com- 

 position the fact of their inferiority. 



CLOVES. 



Cloves are the flower-buds of an evergreen tree, Eugenia caryophyllata, 

 growing wild in the Malaccas and introduced into Arnboyna, the neigh- 

 boring Zanzibar islands, Cayenne, and a few other places in the tropics. 

 They are picked by hand when their development has reached a red 

 color, and are dried in the sun, becoming dark brown. They are classed 

 as East Indian, African, and American, and are valued in that order. 



Fliickiger and Hanbury's description of them is as follows : 



Cloves are about six-tenths of an inch in length, and consist of a long cylindrical 

 calyx dividing above into four pointed spreading sepals which surround four petals, 

 closely imbricated as a globular bud about two-tenths of an inch in diameter. 



The petals, which are of a lighter color than the rest of the drug and somewhat trans- 

 lucent from numerous oil cells, spring from the base of a four-sided epigynous disc, the 

 angles of which are directed toward the lobes the calyx. The stamens, which are 

 very numerous, are inserted at the base of the petals and are arched over the style. 

 The latter, which is short and subulate, rises from a depression in the center of the 

 disc. Immediately below it, and united with the upper portion of the calyx, is the 



