Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Oct.,  1890. 
Chinese  Cinnamon. 
499 
Ching  Fa  Kwei,  so-called  because  it  comes  from  the  Ching  Fa 
Mountain,  is  the  best  kind,  and  its  cost  is  about  twenty-five  dollars 
an  ounce.  Chinese  doctors  say  this  kind  of  cinnamon  is  good  for 
curing  and  purging  disease  of  the  lungs  and  kidneys,  inflammation 
of  the  eyes,  convulsions  in  children,  toothache,  etc.  When  a  piece 
has  actually  cured  a  dangerous  disease,  it  is  called  Shan  Kwei 
or  God's  cinnamon,  and  is  held  to  be  invaluable  by  the  Chinese, 
and  if  procurable  costs  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  times  its  weight 
in  silver. 
Foo  Kwei  (bitter  cinnamon)  and  Ye  Kwei  (wild  cinnamon)  are 
also  obtained  from  the  same  mountain.  An  infusion  of  the  former 
is  colorless  and  bitter,  while  that  of  the  latter  gives  a  sweet  taste 
and  imparts  a  dark  red  color  to  the  water. 
All  the  above  kinds  are  very  scarce. 
Ngoi  Ho  Kwei. — A  very  good  kind  obtained  from  hills  close  by 
the  above-named  mountain.  It  is  readily  procurable  at  Chinese 
druggists'  shops,  and  costs  from  five  to  seven  dollars  an  ounce. 
Chinese  doctors  generally  prescribe  this  kind  for  sickness. 
Ko  Shan  Kwei. — This  is  an  inferior  kind  of  cinnamon,  and  is 
an  article  of  trade ;  cost  fifty  cents  to  three  dollars  a  catty. 
All  the  samples  sent  to  Mr.  Holmes  are  strongest  in  flavor  in  the 
liber  or  endophlceum. 
The  liber  of  this  drug  in  fact  agrees  with  Ceylon  cinnamon. 
The  remarks  already  made  on  the  subject  by  various  authors  may 
be  here  summarized. 
Wells  Williams,  in  his  Chinese  Commercial  Guide,  under  the  head 
of  "  Chinese  Imports,"  gives  the  following  : 
Cinnamon  (Jan  K'wei).  "  A  little  is  imported  into  the  northern 
provinces  where  none  of  the  cinnamon  or  cassia  trees  grow. 
Cochin  China  produces  both  these  plants,  and  the  true  cinnamon  has 
long  been  sent  thence  to  China  both  by  vessels  and  travelling 
traders  across  the  frontier." 
Stille  and  Maisch  (page  476),  "  A  kind  of  Chinese  or  Saigon  cin- 
namon of  late  occasionally  met  with  is  in  more  regular  unscraped 
quills,  yields  a  darker  colored  powder  (than  cassia),  but  has  a  very 
sweet  and  warm  cinnamon  taste.  Its  histological  structure  is  very 
similar  to  Ceylon  cinnamon." 
"  Pharmacographia  "  (pages  528-30),  "  China  cinnamon  of  1870 
comes  still  nearer  to  Ceylon  cinnamon,  except  that  it  is  coated.  A 
