t 3 01 ] 
confirts the improvement of this lart canula, which 
I had principally in view in the rectification of the 
fir ft. 
XLVI. An Account of the Cinnamon- tree, 
by Mr. W. Watfon, F. R. S. 
To the Royal Society. 
Gentlemen, 
Read Nov 21/y TAKE the liberty of laying before you 
1 a fpecimen of the bark and wood of 
the cinnamon-tree, nearly of the length and fize of 
an ordinary walking-cane, tranfmitted from our 
worthy member Mr. Benjamin Robins, now in India, 
to Dr. Letherland, who was fo obliging as to put it 
into my hands for your infpeCtion. And, in order 
to convey to you at the fame time a yet more perfect 
idea of the tree itfelf, there accompanies, it a fmall 
branch of this valuable plant from my own hortus 
ficcus. 
Cinnamon, in the hate now before you, is a great 
curiofity, and ieen in Europe at prelent extremely 
feldom. Clufius tells us, that he faw two fpecimens 
of it. Anciently indeed it was often brought in this 
manner, viz. with the bark furrounding the wood ; 
and it is believed by authors of very great credit, that 
the wood, not diverted of its bark, as we now fee it, 
or the bark rtripped from the wood, was called by 
different appellations. And notwithftanding the va- 
rious controverfies, which have arifen in endeavour- 
