CORTEX CANELL^ ALB.^. 73 



matter and sugar (Winckler 184)9). Salts of iron do not alter thin 

 slices of it, tannic matters being absent. The presence of myrosin, 

 which at present has been inferred rather than proved, ought to be 

 further investigated. The root dried at 100° afforded 1115 per cent, of 

 ash to Mutschler (1878). 



Uses — An infusion or a distilled spirit of horse-radish is reputed 

 stimulant, diaphoretic, and diuretic, but is not often employed. 



Substitute — In India the root of Moviiiga pterygosperDia Gartn. is 

 considered a substitute for horse-radish. It yields by distillation an 

 essential oil of disgusting odour which Broughton, who obtained it in 

 minute quantity, has assured us is not identical with that of mustard or 

 of garlic. 



CANELLACE^. 

 CORTEX CANELLiE ALBiE. 



Canella Bark, Canella Alha Bark; F. Canelle blanche ; 

 G. Canella-Rinde. 



Botanical Origin — Canella alha Murray,' a tree, 20 to 30 or even 

 50 feet in height, found in the south of Florida, the Bahama Islands 

 (whence alone its bark is exported), Cuba, Jamaica, Ste. Broix, Guada- 

 loupe, Martinique, Barbadoes and Trinidad. 



History— The drug was fii-st mentioned in 1605 by Clusius,' who 

 remarks that it had been then newly brought to Europe and had received 

 the name of Canella alha (White Cinnamon). It was afterwards known 

 as Costus Corticosus, Costus clulcis, Cassia alba, Cassia lignea Jamai- 

 censis or Jamaica Winter's Bark. Dale^ writing in 1693 notices it as not 

 unfrequently sold for Winter's Bark. Pomet* (1694) describes it as 

 synonymous with Winter's Bark, and observes that it is common, 

 yet but little employed. 



The drug is mentioned by most subsequent writers, some of whom 

 like Pomet probably confounded it with the bark of Cinnamodendron 

 (p. 19). It is usually described as produced in Jamaica or Guadaloupe, 

 from which islands no Canella alba is now exported. On the other 

 hand, New Providence, one of the Bahamas whence the Canella alba of 

 the present day is shipped, is not named. Nor do we find any allusion 

 to the drug in the records of the Company (1630-50) which was formed 

 for the colonization of New Providence and the other islands of the 

 group, though their staple productions are frequently enumerated.* 



Canella alha Murr. was described and figured by Sloane (1707) and 

 still better by Patrick Brown in 1789, and Olaf Swartz in 1791.^ 



Collection — In the Bahamas, where the drug is known as White 

 Wood Bark or Cinnamon Bark, it is collected thus : — preparatory to 



'Fig. in Bentley and Trimen, Jtfcdic. ^ Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, 



Plants, part 6 (1876). 1584—1660, Lond. 1860. 



^Exotica, 78. *0. Swartz, Trans, of the Linnean Soc., 



^ Pharmacologia, 432. i. 96. See also Bonnet, Monographie des 



*Hist. des Drag, part i. 130. CanelUes, 1876. 



