526 LAURACE^. 



phloeitTri). Three different layei-s are to be distinguished on a transverse 

 section of this tissue : — 



1. The external surface which is composed of one to three rows of 

 large thick-walled cells, forming a coherent ring ; it is only interrupted 

 by bundles of liber-fibres, which are obvious even to the unaided eye ; 

 they compose in fact the wavy lines mentioned in the last page. 



2. The middle layer is built up of about ten rows of parenchymatous 

 thin-walled cells, interrupted by much larger cells containing deposits 

 of mucilage, while other cells, not larger than those of the parenchyme 

 itself, are loaded with essential oil. 



3. The innermost layer exhibits the same thin-walled but smaller 

 cells, yet intersected by narrow, somewhat darker, medullary rays, and 

 likewise interrupted by cells containing either mucilage or essential oil. 



Instead of bundles of liber-fibres, fibres mostly isolated are scattered 

 through the two inner layers, the parenchyme of which abounds in 

 small starch granules accompanied by tannic matter. On a longitu- 

 dinal section, the length of the liber-fibres becomes more evident, as 

 well as oil-ducts and gum-ducts. 



Chemical Composition — The most interesting and noteworthy 

 constituent of cinnamon is the essential oil, which the bark yields to the 

 extent of ^ to 1 per cent., and which is distilled in Ceylon, — very 

 seldom in England. It was prepared by Valerius Cordus, who stated,^ 

 somewhat before 1544, that the oils of cinnmnon and cloves belong to 

 the small number of essential oils which are heavier than water, 

 " fundum petunt." About 1571 the essential oils of cinnmnon, mace, 

 cloves, 'pejJ'per, nutmegs and several others, were also distilled by Guin- 

 therus of Andernach,- and again, about the year 1589, by Porta.* 



In the latter part of the last century, it used to be brought to 

 Europe by the Dutch. During the five years from 1775 to 1779 in- 

 clusive, the average quantity annually disposed of at the sales of the 

 Dutch East India Company was 176 ounces. The wholesale price in 

 London between 1776 and 1782 was 21s. per ounce; but from 1785 to 

 1789, the oil fetched 63s. to 68s., the increase in value being doubtless 

 occasioned by the war with Holland commenced in 1782. The oil is 

 now largely produced in Ceylon, from which island the quantity 

 exported in 1871 was 14,796 ounces; and in 1872, 39,100 ounces.* The 

 oil is shipped chiefly to England. 



Oil of cinnamon is a golden-yellow liquid, having a sp. gr. of 

 1"035, a powerful cinnamon odour, and a sweet and aromatic but 

 burning taste. It deviates a ray of polarized light a very little 

 to the left. The oil consists chiefly of Cinnamic Aldehyde, 

 C'''H^(CH)2C0H, together with a variable proportion of hydrocarbons. 

 At a low temperature it becomes turbid by the deposit of a cam- 

 phor, which we have not examined. The oil easily absorbs oxygen, 

 becoming thereby contaminated with resin and cinnamic acid, 

 C*H='(CH)'COOH. 



Cinnamon contains sugar, mannite, starch, mucilage, and tannic 



» Inhisbonk "De artificiosisextractioiii- ^ Mar/ ice KaturaUs libt-i xx. Neapoli 



bus," published by Gesner, Argentorati, 1589. 184. 



1561, fol. 226. ■* Ceylon Blue Books for 1871 and 1872, 



2 De medicina reteri el nova, Basile», 1 57 1 . 

 630-635. 



