OINNAMON. 



493 



posed of thin layers which are separate, and which, cut in lengths, are 

 exposed in the sun, and curl up in drying. Good cinnamon should be 

 fine, thin, brittle, of a yellowish brown, and aromatic. It is one of 

 the delicate spices of the table, and is also used in medicine. 



In the "Feuille de la Guyane" for 1820, of Guisan, page 339, it is 

 represented as a very hardy plant, growing well in all situations, 

 soils, and aspects, on the summits of mountains, on the borders of 

 streams which wash its roots ; in alluvial soils, thoroughly or badly 

 drained, it is stated to succeed well. This differs, however, from the 

 opinions entertained in Ceylon, where cinnamon of a superior quality is 

 restricted to sandy soils. Leblond remarks that every part of the 

 tree is important, and can be applied to some useful purpose, the 

 wood, leaves, fruit, and bark. The roots even yield, by distillation, a 

 camphor of a better quality than that ordinarily used in medicine. 

 The old trunks furnish resinous knots which have the odour of rose- 

 wood, and can be advantageously employed for furniture ; the leaves 

 furnish an oil appreciated by perfumers ; a distilled water from the 

 flowers, besides the soft and pleasant odour, sweetens the worst breath, 

 animates the spirits, and diffuses its pleasant perfume wherever it is 

 used. A decoction of the fruit furnishes a useful wax. 



The cinnamon is raised most readily from seeds, although the fine 

 kinds are propagated in Ceylon by layers, and they differ in the degree 

 of aromatic principle or flavour just as much as the nutmeg varies 

 in respect of size, but the quality of the seedlings can always be 

 ascertained in the seedling bud by tasting the leaves. 



Cinnamon was held in high esteem in the most remote times of 

 history. In the words of the learned Dr. Vincent, Dean of West- 

 minster, it seems to have been the first spice sought after in all 

 oriental voyages. Both cinnamon and cassia are mentioned as 

 precious odoriferous substances in the Mosaic writings and the dif- 

 ferent Biblical works, also by many of the writers of antiquity ; and 

 from the accounts which have thus come down to us, there appears 

 reason for believing that the spices referred to were nearly the same 

 as those of the present day. That cinnamon and cassia were ex- 

 tremely analogous, is proved by the remark of Galen, that the finest 

 cassia differs so little from the lowest quality of cinnamon that the 

 first may be substituted for the second, provided a double weight of 

 it be used (Pharmacogrophia). This bark was an article of export 

 from India in the time of the author of the Periplus of the Erythraean 

 sea, and even long before it was much used among the masters of the 

 ancient world. Nero is reported to have burnt a quantity of cinna- 

 mon and cassia, at the funeral of Popposa, greater than the countries 

 from which it was imported produced in one year. Marco Polo, the 

 Venetian, incidentally mentions this spice in several places, but gives 

 this name to wrong articles sometimes. Caesar Frederick, a country- 

 man of Marco Polo, who travelled in Asia about a.d. 1563, describes 

 the process of gathering the spice in Ceylon. 



The roots of the cinnamon tree are branchy and ligneous ; the bark of 

 these roots has the pungent smell of camphor, with the delicious odour 

 of cinnamon, and yields camphor by distillation. The wood of the 

 tree is light, fibrous, and inodorous. The trunk is from 12 to 18 



