[ 8 7 i ] 
produced. And the common Caflia taken from the 
larger branches, and not cured, has the vifcofity 
complained of in fome degree, tho’ much lefs than 
it had four years fince, when I received it. 
Mr. Ray fays, that one is weaker in tafle, as he 
fuppofes, than the other. That may be fo from its 
manner of drying, or keeping of it. Dried in large 
quantities, and by a ftronger heat, it will probably 
be ftronger, than if it is dried in a lefler quantity, and 
flower. 
As for the vifcofity, the glutinous part is found 
in every plant in fome degree, as w r ell as in every 
animal. It preferves the parts from moiflure ; but 
will be confumed by heat or time ; and it will be a 
prefervative t6 the plant, till it is deftroyed ; which 
v/as the reafon, as I fuppofe, that Mr. Ray men- 
tions Caflia to have kept good thirty years, the vif- 
coflty not having been deflroyed by drying. 
I fuppofe the reafon, which the Dutch have to 
dry it, is to make it fooner fit for the market, and 
poflibly fitter for diftillation. 
You will fee from Mr. Combes’s letters and fpeci- 
mens, that he thinks there may be two forts of 
Caflia or Cinnamon in Sumatra : poflibly there may 
be the fame difference in Ceylon j but, if fo, I fufpedt 
them both to be only, feminal varieties, and that their 
virtues are the fame. 
Mr. Barlow, fome time fince a Surgeon in the 
fervice of the India company, made a confiderable 
quantity of oil of the Caflia of Sumatra, which was 
very little, if any thing, inferior to that drawn from 
Cinnamon ; and it was fold to great profit. 
If thefe plants are really the fame, or if they are 
of equal goodnefs, fuppofing there was a fmall dif- 
ference 
