CARYOPHYLLI. 281 



large island of Jilolo, where, strange to say, the tree appears not to exist 

 in a wild state (Crawfurd). According to Rumphins, it was introduced 

 into Amboyna before the arrival of the Portuguese, and is still cultivated 

 there and in the neighbouring islands of Haruku, Saparua and 

 Nusalaut, also in Sumatra and Penang. It is likewise now found in 

 Malacca, the Mascarene Islands, the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba on 

 the eastern coast of Africa, and the West Indi&s. 



The tree which is grown for the spice appears to be a cultivated 

 variety, of lower stature and more aromatic than the wild form. 



History^ — The Greek name Kapv6(pv\\ov is supposed to refer to the 

 ball-like petals of the bud, which, as above described, might be compared 

 to a small nut {Kapvov). But the name is very variably written, as 

 yapov/ui^ovX, Kap(pov(pou\, yap6<pa\a,- whence it becomes probable that 

 it is not really Greek, but an Asiatic word hellenized. 



C51oves have been long known to the Chinese. Mr. Mayers, late 

 Chinese Secretary to the British Legation at Pekin, has communicated 

 to us the interesting fact that they are mentioned by several Chinese 

 writers as in use under the Han dynasty, B.C. 266 to A.D. 220, during 

 which period it was customary for the officers of the court to hold the 

 spice in the mouth before addressing the sovereign, in order that their 

 breath might have an agreeable odour.^ 



The Sanskrit name is "Lavanga," whence the vernacular Hindustani 

 " Laung." 



The first European author to mention Caryophyllon is Pliny, who 

 describes it, after i^epper, as a grain resembling that spice but longer and 

 more brittle, produced in India, and imported for the sake of its odour. 

 It is doubtful whether this description really refers to cloves. 



By the 4th century, cloves must have become well known in Europe, 

 if credence can be placed in a remarkable record preserved by Vignoli,"' 

 which states that the emperor Constantine presented to St. Silvester, 

 bishop of Rome, A.D. 314-335, numerous vessels of gold and silver, 

 incense and spices, among which last were 150 pounds of Cloves — a vast 

 quantity for the period. 



Kosmas Indicopleustes,' in his TopographiaChrwtiana written about 

 A.D. 547, states in the account of Taprobane (Ceylon) that silk, aloes 

 [-wood], cloves (Kapv6(pv\\ov) and sandal wood, besides other produc- 

 tions, are imported thither from China, and other emporia, and trans- 

 mitted to distant regions. Alexander Trallianus,® who was a friend of 

 Kosmos and a pupil of his father, prescribed in several receipts 5 or 8 

 cloves, Kapvo(pvWov kokkov^, from which fact it may be inferred that at 

 his time (at Rome ?) cloves were a very rare article. A century later, 

 Paulus JEgineta^ distinctly described cloves as Cai'yophylloii — ex 

 India, veluti flores cujusdavi arboris . . odorati, acres. . . and much 

 used for a condiment and in medicine. 



^ For the history of the oil see our article * Liber Pontijical'ut, seu de Gestis Jionui' 



Cortex Cinnamon, chemical composition. norum Pontificum, Komae, i. (1724) 94. 



- \j&ng)i.ak\e\,Botanikder spdterenGriechen, ^ Migne, Patrologicc Cursus, series Grseca, 



Berlin, 18G6. 19. Ixxxviii. (1860) 446. 



' At this period, the clove was called Ki ^ Puschman's edition (quoted in the 



shek Iiiang, Le. fowVs tongue spice. The appendix) i. 435. 580. Alexander dedi- 



modem name Ting hiang, i. e. nail-scent or cat^d his work to his teacher, the father of 



-spice, was in use in the 5th or 6th century Cosmas. 



of our era. 7 De re medica, lib. vii. c. 3. 



