CORTEX WINTERANUS. 19 



order, a dark rusty parenchyme intervening between them. No such 

 feature is ever observable in either Canella or Cmnaraodendron. 



Winter's Bark has a short, ahnost earthy fracture, an intolerably 

 pungent burning taste, and an odour which can only be described as ' 

 terebinthinous. When fresh its smell may be more agreeable. The 

 descriptions of Clusius, as alluded to above, are perfectly agreeing and 

 even his figures as nearly as might be expected. 



Microscopic Structure — In full-grown specimens the most strik- 

 ing fact is the predominance of sclerenchymatous cells. The tissue 

 moreover contains numerous large oil-ducts, chiefly in the inner portion 

 of the large medullary rays. A fibrous structure of the inner part of 

 the bark is observable only in the youngest specimens.^ Veiy small 

 starch granules are met with in the drug, yet less numerous than in 

 canella. The tissue of the former assumes a blackish blue colour on 

 addition of perchloride of iron. 



The wood of Driniys consists of dotted prosenchyme, traversed by 

 medullary rays, the cells of which are punctuated and considerably 

 larger than in Coniferce. 



Chemical Composition — No satisfactory chemical examination 

 has been made of true Winter's Bark. Its chief constituents, as already 

 pointed out, are tannic matters and essential oil, probably also a resin. 

 In a cold aqueous infusion, a considerable amount of mucilage is indi- 

 cated by neutral acetate of lead. On addition of potash it yields a 

 dark somewhat violet liquid. CaneUa alba is but little altered by the 

 same treatment. By reason of its astringency the bark is used in Chili 

 for tanning.^ 



Uses — Winter's Bark is a stimulating tonic and antiscorbutic, now 

 almost obsolete in Europe. It is much used in Brazil and other parts 

 of South America as a remedy in diarrhoea and gastric debility. 



Substitute — False Winters Bark — We have shown that the bark 

 of Drimys or True Winter's Bark has been confounded with the 

 pungent bark of Canella alba. L., and with an allied bark, also the pro- 

 duce of Jamaica. The latter is that of Cinnaniodendron corticosuni 

 Miers,^ a tree growing in the higher mountain woods of St. Thomas-in- 

 the-Vale and St. John, but not observed in any other of the West 

 Indian islands than Jamaica. It was probably vaguely known to 

 Sloane when he described the " Wild Cinamon tree, commonly, but 

 falsely, called Cortex Winteranus," which, he says, has leaves resemb- 

 ling those of Lauro-cerasus ; though the tree he figures is certainly 

 CaneUa alba* Long^ in 1774, speaks of Wild Cinamon, Canella alba, 

 or Bastard Cortex Winteranus, saying that it is used by most apothe- 

 caries instead of the true Cortex Winteranus. 



It is probable that both writers really had in view Cinnamodendron, 

 the bark of which has been known and used as Winters Bark, both in 

 England and on the continent from an early period up to the present 



'The structure of Winter's Bark is beau- 24, Bot. Magaz., Sept. 1874, vol. yxx. pL 



tifuUy figured by Eichler, loc. cit. tab. 32. 6121, and Bentley and Trimens' Medicinal 



" Perez- Rosales, Essai sur le Chili, 1857. Plants, part 10. 



113. * Phil. Trans, xvii. for 1693. 465. 



^Annah of Nat. Hist., May 1858 ; also ^ Hist. ofJamaica.JjonAon, iii. (1774) 705 



Miers' Contributions to Botany, i. 121, pi. —also i. 495. 



