4S4. 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



being extremely delightful ; but in parts of the 

 plantation remote from this spot, unless the trees 

 be agitated with violence, the peculiar smell of 

 thecinnamon cannot be distinguished. The wood, 

 deprived of the bark, has no smell, and is used 

 as fuel. 



When the bark is perfectly cleansed it is of a 

 pale yeUow colour, and about the thickness of 

 parchment. It is then placed on mats, to dry iu 

 the sun, when it curls up, and acquires a darker 

 lint. The smaller pieces are then put inside the 

 larger, and the whole close together into the 

 tubular form in which it is sold in the shops. 

 When the rind, or part fonning the cinnamon, 

 is first taken from the tree, it is described as con- 

 sisting of an outer portion which tastes like com- 

 mon bark, and an inner portion, which is very 

 sweet and aromatic. In the course of the drying, 

 the oil of the inner portion, on which the flavour 

 depends, is communicated to the whole; and the 

 quality of the entire bark is understood to depend 

 more upon the relative quantities of those por- 

 tions of the bark than upon anything else. The 

 cinnamon of Ceylon has the outer portion much 

 thinner, in proportion to the inner, than the 

 cassia of other countries; and to that its higher 

 |)ungency is attributed. 



Under favourable circumstances, the cinnamon 

 tree yields a large and a small harvest every 

 year. The large one is obtained soon after the 

 fruit is ripe; that is, when the tree has again 

 pushed out shoots, and the sap is in vigorous 

 circulation. May and June are the best months 

 in the year for the great harvest; in November 

 and December the little harvest is obtained. In 

 those plantations which belong to government, 

 liowever, there is but one harvest, beginning in 

 May, and ending in October. 



Though cinnamon has found a place in our 

 Pharmacopeia, the purpose to which it has been 

 applied by the South Americans, invests it with 

 medicinal properties, which it is not usually, 

 supposed to possess. "One thousand bales 

 (92,000 lbs.) are said to be consumed annually 

 by the slaves in the mines of South America. 

 Each receives daily a certain quantity, cut into 

 pieces one inch in length, which he eats as a 

 preservative against the noxious effluvia of the 

 mines." 



Oil of cinnamon was formerly obtained at 

 Colombo, from distilling the fragments broken 

 off in packing; latterly a great proportion has 

 been made from coarse cinnamon unfit for expor- 

 tation. A very small quantity of oil is contained 

 in the bark; three hundred pounds of which are 

 required to yield twenty-four ounces of oil, and 

 consequently this is extravagantly dear. When 

 made from the finest cinnamon its specific gravity 

 is greater, but from the coarse sort it is less than 

 that of water. 



The Camphor Tree (I. camphora). This 



tree grows to a considerable height, dividing into 

 many branches covered with smooth greenish 



170 



Camphor Tree. 



bark. The leaves are ovate, lance-shaped, entire, 

 smooth, nerved ; on the upper side of a pale yel- 

 lowish green colour, on the under glaucous. They 

 stand upon long footstalks. The flowers are 

 small, white, destitute of calyx, with a six-petal- 

 led corolla. The fruit resembles that of the 

 cinnamon. 



This tree is a native of Japan, growing abun- 

 dantly in the woods of the western part of the 

 island. It was first cultivated in Britain by 

 Miller, and is a hardy hot-house plant. The 

 roots, wood, and leaves have a strong odour of 

 camphor. This substance is found to lodge every 

 where in the interstices of the fibres of the wood, 

 also in the pith, but most abundantly in the cre- 

 vices and knots. To obtain the camphor, the 

 parts of the tree are cut into chips, which are 

 suspended in a net within a kind of still, or iron 

 pot, the bottom of which is covered with water, 

 and an earthen head fitted to it. Heat is then 

 applied, and the steam of the boiling Water pene- 

 trating the contents of the net, elevates the cam- 

 phor into the capital, where it concretes on straws, 

 with which this part of the apparatus is lined. 



Many other plants yield camphor when treated 

 in a similar manner. Pure camphor is white, 

 pellucid, somewhat unctuous, of a bitterish aro- 

 matic acrid taste, accompanied afterwards by a 

 sense of coolness, very volatile and inflammable, 

 and when taken into the stomach, stimulating 

 and narcotic. 



It does not seem to have been known to the 

 Greeks, but was much used by the Arabian phy- 

 sicians, and called cafur or canfur. Its odour is 

 disagreeable, and destroys insects and vermin ; 

 and it is on this account used in museums. 

 From its great volatility, however, it soon eva- 

 porates, unless confined in close boxes or 

 bottles. 



The Clove (caryophyllus aromatkus.) Natu- 

 ral family myrtaceai ; icosandria, monoc/yma, of 



