— 33 — 



In an article in Southall's Report 1 ) the just desire is expressed 

 that the Pharmacopoeia requirements relating to Ceylon cinnamon oil 

 should be extended so as to include a definite aldehyde content, in 

 order to prevent adulteration by means of artificial cinnamic aldehyde. 

 The cinnamic aldehyde content of normal oils has been ascertained 

 to range between 70 to 7i,4°/o whereas adulterated oils have been found 

 to contain from 77,6 to 86,4 °/ . The specific gravity of normal oils 

 moves between 1,012 and 1,023, m adulterated oils it ran from 1,027 

 up to 1,055. 



The observations relating to the specific gravity of alleged authentic 

 oils recorded in this article do not agree with our own findings, 

 which are the result of records of very numerous observations with 

 our own distillates. We have found the specific gravity of normal 

 Ceylon cinnamon oils to vary from 1,023 to 1,040; lower specific 

 gravities may perhaps be due to the use of defective raw material 

 or to unreasonable methods of distillation. According to our experience, 

 the aldehyde content of good Ceylon cinnamon oils ranges from 65 

 to 76 %• 



Cinnamon bark Oil, Seychelles. In completion of what 

 we wrote in our last Report 2 ) with regard to the Seychelles cinnamon 

 oils, we may state that cinnamon trees growing in the Seychelles Is- 

 lands are said to be originally deriving from Ceylon. It is stated that 

 an inhabitant of the Seychelles brought over a number of young plants 

 from Ceylon. No further trouble was taken with these, yet they 

 flourished greatly and finally began to spread luxuriantly throughout 

 the islands. The trees develop and are replenished very quickly and 

 were used on the Seychelles hitherto merely as fuel. From this it 

 may be surmised that the Seychelles cinnamon tree represents its Ceylon 

 congener in the wild state. This view is confirmed by an article on 

 the oil industry in the Seychelles in the British and Colonial Druggist*), 

 from which we quote the following particulars concerning the occurrence 

 and distillation of cinnamon. Cinnamon trees have been growing in 

 the Seychelles for about a century, the seed having been carried 

 thither by birds. In Mahe the trees are found from the highest 

 mountain-districts down to the coast. Occasionally, especially on the 

 borders of the streams, the plant attains enormous dimensions. Fine 

 trees of about one foot diameter produce about 100 lbs. of dry 

 bark, but the smaller plants may also be used for chips. In Ceylon 

 the bark, after having been freed from the epidermis by scraping, is 

 left to ferment overnight in damp sacks, then dried in the shade 



x ) Southall's Report 1908, 17. Quoted from Year-Book of Pharmacy 1908, 53. 



2 ) Report November 1908, 41. 



8 ) British and Colonial Druggist 54: (1908), 152. 



3 



