ON THE LAURUS CASSIA. 
217 
ART. XXXIX. — ON THE LAURUS CASSIA OF LINNiEUS, AND 
THE PLANTS PRODUCING THE CASSIA BARK OF COM- 
MERCE. By Robert Wight, M. D. 
Mr attention was first directed to this subject by a com- 
munication from Government, in which I am requested to 
endeavor to ascertain " whether the common Cassia Bark of 
the markets of the world is a thicker and coarser portion of 
the bark of the genuine cinnamon plant or tree, or whether it 
is the bark of a plant not analogous to the cinnamon plant or 
tree." 
Before it was possible to return a satisfactory answer to this 
question, it seemed incumbent on me to ascertain what plant 
Linnaeus meant to designate under the name of Laurus 
Cassia, and whether it was probable the plant so called could 
supply all the bark passing under that name in the markets of 
the world. This primary, but most difficult inquiry was 
rendered indispensable by the, generally supposed, ridiculous 
assertion of Mr. Marshall, that the leaves, and the bark of the 
trunk and branches of the Laurus Cassia of Linnaeus, so far 
from being aromatic and spicy like cinnamon, are bitter, and 
have in a slight degree the taste and odor of myrrh. This 
assertion, wide as it may appear of the truth, is yet founded 
in fact, and what may appear still more extraordinary, has led 
to a discovery, which, without such aid as he has given, would 
not probably have soon been made by a professed botanist, a 
title to which I believe Mr. Marshall does not aspire. He ap- 
pears to have been led to the discovery, that the Laurus 
Cassia of Linnaeus did not produce aromatic bark, simply 
through the native name, and wonders how it could have rer 
ceived from him the name of Cassia, and had qualities at- 
tributed to its bark which it does not in the slightest degree 
possess. I think I can now answer the question, and explain 
the mystery which has so long hung over this species, and 
been hitherto rendered only more obscure by each attempt to 
bring it to light. 
vol. vi. — no. in. 28 
