224 CINNAMOMUM ZEYLANICUM 



The essential constituent of cinnamon bark is the volatile oil, 

 which is official in the British and Indian Pharmacopoeias. It is 

 also official in the United States Pharmacopoeia; and although, as 

 already noticed, no difference is there made between cinnamon and 

 cassia barks, the volatile oil is directed to be derived from the 

 bark of Cinnamomum zeylanicum alone. Oil of cinnamon is 

 imported from Ceylon. When fresh it has a golden-yellow colour, 

 but by keeping, owing to oxidation, it becomes contaminated with 

 resin and cinnamic acid, and changes to cherry-red. Its sp. gr. 

 is 1'1035 ; it has a pleasant and purely cinnamomic odour, and a 

 sweetish cinnamomic and burning taste. Oil of cassia is some- 

 times substituted for or mixed with the finer and more costly oil 

 of cinnamon. 



Medical Properties and Uses. Cinnamon bark has generally 

 the properties of the spices, being aromatic, carminative, and 

 stimulant. It is also somewhat astringent. It is rarely pre- 

 scribed alone, but chiefly as an addition to other medicines, to 

 improve their flavour or to check their griping qualities. As a 

 cordial, stimulant, and tonic, it is indicated in all cases charac- 

 terised by feebleness and atony. As an astringent it is employed 

 in diarrhoea, usually in combination with chalk, the vegetable 

 infusions, or opium. As a cordial and stimulant it is exhibited in 

 the latter stages of low fever. In flatulent and spasmodic affec- 

 tions of the alimentary canal it often proves a very efficient 

 carminative and antispasmodic. It checks nausea and vomiting. 

 It has also been used in uterine haemorrhage. 



The oil of cinnamon possesses the cordial and carminative pro- 

 perties of the bark without its astringency, and is a good deal 

 used as an adjunct to other medicines, and also as a powerful 

 local stimulant in paralysis of the tongue, cramp of the stomach, 

 and to relieve headache, &c. 



The principal consumption of cinnamon is, however, as a 

 spice, and we have already alluded to it as the chief flavouring 

 agent for chocolate. 



An oil of a clove-like odour and taste is also distilled from 

 the leaves of the cinnamon plant in Ceylon, and occasionally 



