38 
Massoi  Bark. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Jan..  1889. 
resembles  that  of  cocoanut  milk.  The  taste  is  pungent,  the  flavor 
somewhat  resembling  the  odor,  but  also  recalling  that  of  a  mixture  of 
cinnamon  and  rue. 
The  second  bark  is  in  quills  like  cinnamon,  but  as  thick  as  cassia, 
somewhat  wrinkled  externally,  extremely  hard  and  woody,  and  is 
almost  horny  in  consistence.  It  has  very  little  odor,  but  a  pungent 
taste,  and  a  slight  flavor  between  that  of  cinnamon  and  cassia.  The 
inner  surface  is  finely  striated,  and  the  transverse  fracture  is  dark  in- 
ternally and  paler  towards  the  outer  surface. 
The  third  bark  is  thinner  than  the  first,  but  resembles  it  in  odor. 
The  taste  also  is  very  similar,  but  more  pungent  and  faintly  bitter, 
causing  a  sensation  of  heat  in  the  mouth  for  some  time  and  an  aug- 
mented flow  of  saliva.  The  bark  is,  however,  only  half  the  thickness, 
barely  attaining  two  lines.  It  is  paler  in  color  in  transverse  section, 
is  marked  externally  with  faint  longitudinal  cracks,  and  is  more  mark- 
edly striated  internally.  In  transverse  section  it  presents  a  short 
granular  fracture,  the  sclerenchymatous  bundles  being  arranged  at 
right  angles  to  the  surface,  but  the  middle  layer,  corresponding  to  that 
of  C.  xanthoneuron  in  which  these  bundles  are  horizontally  placed,  is 
scarcely  developed.  Cinnamomum  xanthoneuron  and  Sassafras  Goe- 
sianum  are  both  natives  of  New  Guinea,  and  C.  Kiamis  of  Java, 
Sumatra,  and  apparently  also  of  Borneo. 
All  these  barks  are  met  with  in  the  bazaars  in  Java,  and  are  used 
in  cases  of  colic  and  diarrhoea  and  in  spasmodic  affections. 
According  to  Teysmann  and  Binnendyk  Sassafras  Goesianum 
yields  the  true  massoi  bark. 
In  the  Hanbury  Collection  there  is  also  a  bark  labelled  massoi  bark, 
corresponding  exactly  in  structure,  taste,  and  odor  with  the  bark  of  8. 
Goesianum.  It  is  labelled  on  the  bark,  apparently  in  the  writing  of 
Mr.  Thos.  Hanbury :  "  This  bark  I  bought  at  a  Kling  shop ;  they 
could  tell  me  nothing  about  it,  except  that  it  was  used  to  scent  or 
flavor  medicines." 
On  the  outside  of  the  box  it  is  labelled,  in  Daniel  Hanbury's  wri- 
ting, "Cortex  Massoi  (of )  Blume's  'Rurnphia'  (Laurineous  ?)  bark, 
smelling  like  the  Brazilian  Casca  pretiosa.1  Bought  at  Singapore  by 
Thos.  Hanbury,  1853.  Found  this  bark  identical  with  that  procured 
by  Guibourt  at  the  Mus6e  Japonais,  vide  Hist,  des  Drogues,  ed.  iv.,. 
torn,  ii.,  p.  383 ;  compared  the  two  at  Paris,  April  22,  1854." 
irThe  bark  of  Mespilodaphne  pretiosa,  Nees. 
