CORTEX CASSIA LIONEL. 529 



namon of the ancients was that substance. It must, however, be 

 observed that Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Pliny, Strabo and others, as 

 well as the remarkable inscription on the temple of Apollo at Miletus, 

 represent cinnamon and cassia as distinct, but nearly allied sub- 

 stances. While, on the other hand, the author of the Periplus of the 

 Erythrean Sea, in enumerating the products shipped from the various 

 commercial ports of Eastern Africa^ in the first century, mentions Cassia 

 (Kuaia or Kaa-crla) of various kinds, but never employs the word Cin- 

 namon (KivvafjLwjULoi/). 



In the list of productions of India on which duty was levied at the 

 Roman custom house at Alexandria, circa A.D. 176-1 80, Omi-iamawmiH is 

 mentioned aswellasCcts.sia turiana,Xylocassia and Xylociniiaraoniuvxr 

 Of the distinction here drawn between cinnamon and cassia we can give 

 no explanation ; but it is worthy of note that twigs and branches of a 

 Cinnamommn are sold in the Chinese drug shops, and may not im- 

 probably be the xylocassia or xylocinnamon of the ancients.^ The name 

 Cassia lignea would seem to have been originally bestowed on some such 

 substance, rather than as at present on a mere bark. The spice was 

 also undoubtedly called Cassia syrinx and Cassia Jistularis (p. 221), — 

 names which evidently refer to a bark which had the form of a 

 tube. In fact there may well have been a diversity of qualities, some 

 perhaps very costly. It is remarkable that such is still the case in 

 China, and that the wealthy Chinese employ a thick variety of cassia, 

 the price of which is as much as 18 dollars per catty, or about 56s. 

 per lb.* 



Whether the Aronuita Cassias, which were presented to the Church 

 at Rome under St. Silvester, a.d. 314-335, was the modern cassia 

 bark, is rather doubtful. The largest donation, 200 lb., which was 

 accompanied by pepper, saffron, storax, cloves, and balsam, would appear 

 to have arrived from Egypt.* Cassia seems to have been known in 

 Western Europe as early as the 7th century, for it is mentioned with 

 cinnamon by St. Isidoi'e, archbishop of Seville.** Cassia is named in 

 one of the Leech-books in use in England prior to the Norman conquest." 

 The spice was then sold in London as Canel in 1264, at lOd. per lb., 

 sugar being at the same time 12d., cumin 2d., and ginger 18d.^ In the 

 Soke of Nurture^ written in the 15th century by John Russell, cham- 

 berlain to Humphry, duke of Gloucester, cassia is spoken of as 



^Vincent, Commerce and Navigation of ® Migne, Pa<ro?o<7ieEC«rs(<s, Ixxxii. (1S50) 



the Ancients in the Indian Ocean, ii. (1807) 622. — St. Isidore evidently quotes Galen, 



130. 134. 149. 150. 157. — That the ancients but his remarks imply that both spices 



should confound the different kinds of cassia were know at the period when he wrote. 



is really no matter for surprise, when we ' Cockayne, Ltechdoms, etc., of Early 



moderns, whether botanists, phamiacolo- England, ii. (1865) 143. 



gists, or spice-dealers, are unable to point * Rogers, Hist, of Agriculture and Prices 



out characters by which to distinguish the in England, ii. (1866) 543. 



barks of this group, or even to give definite ^ The book has been reprinted for the 



names to those found in our warehouses. Early English Text Society, 1868. — Russell 



* Vincent, op. cit. ii. 701-716. says : — "Looke that your stikkes of syiia- 

 ' See further on. Allied Products, Cassia mome be thyn, bretille and fayre in colewr 



twigs, page 533. .... for canelle is not so good in this 



* Very fine specimens of this costly bark crafte and cure." — And in his directions 

 have been kindly supplied to us by Dr. H. " how to viake Ypocras," he prescribes 

 F.Hance, British Vice-Consul at Whampoa. synamome in that "for lordes," but 



^Vignolius, Liber Pontijicalis, Romae, i. "canelle^' in that for " commyn peple." 

 (1724) 94. 95. 



2 L 



