134  Origin  of  Cassia  Lignea.  {"^""£"'188?™' 
deliquescent,  of  an  acid  reaction  and  taste,  and  dissolves  in  an  equal 
weight  of  water. 
Tinctures  are  prepared  by  maceration,  with  frequent  agitation,  for  a 
week  in  closed  vessels,  kept  in  a  shady  place  at  a  temperature  of  about 
15°C.;  the  liquid  is  strained,  if  necessary  expressed,  and  after 
subsidence  filtered,  the  funnel  being  covered  to  prevent  evaporation. 
Tinctura  Absinthii. — Wormwood  1  part,  alcohol  (sj).  gr,  '894)  5 
parts.    Dark  brownish-green,  very  bitter. 
Tinetura  Aloes  coinposita. — Cape  aloes  6  parts,  rhubarb,  gentian, 
zedoary  and  saffron,  each  1  part,  alcohol  (sp.  gr.  -894)  200  parts. 
Yellowish  and  red-brown,  aromatic,  very  bitter,  not  rendered  turbid 
by  water. 
Tinetura  amara. — Gentian,  centaury  herb,  each  3  parts,  bitter  orange 
peel  2  parts,  orange  berries  and  zedoary,  each  1  part,  alcohol  (sp.  gr. 
•894)  50  parts.    Greenish-brown,  aromatic  and  bitter. 
Tindura  aromatica.  —  Chinese  cinnamon  5  parts,  ginger  2  parts, 
galangal,  cloves,  cardamom,  each  1  part,  alcohol  (sp.  gr.  '894)  50  parts. 
Brown-red,  very  aromatic. 
Tinetura  Calami. — Calamus,  unpeeled,  1  part,  alcohol  (sp.  gr.  '894) 
5  parts.    Brownish-yellow,  bitter  aromatic,  pungent. 
NOTE  ON  THE  ORIGIN  OF  CASSIA  LIGNEA.^ 
.    By  W.  T.  Thiselton  Dyer,  M.A.,  F.R.S., 
Assistant  Director^  Royal  Gardens^  Kew. 
The  spice  now  known  in  pharmaceutical  literature  under  the  name 
of  Cassia  lignea  has,  from  time  immemorial,  been  an  article  of  trade 
from  South  China.  Fliickiger  and  Hanbury  are  indeed  of  opinion  that 
it  w^as  the  cinnamon  of  the  ancients,  what  now  bears  the  name  being 
peculiar  to  Ceylon  and  unnoticed  as  a  product  of  the  island  till  the 
thirteenth  century.^  Cinnamon  and  cassia  are,  however,  enumerated 
amongst  the  products  of  the  East  from  the  earliest  periods ;  and  the 
former  was  known  to  the  Arabians  and  Persians  as  Darehini  (dar^ 
wood  or  bark,  and  ohini,  Chinese).  It  seems  in  ancient  times  to  have 
been  carried  by  Chinese  traders  to  the  Malabar  coast,  where  it  passed 
into  the  commerce  of  the  Red  Sea.  In  this  way  the  statements  of 
Dioscorides,  Ptolemy,  and  others,  are  accounted  for,  who  speak  of  cin- 
1  From  the  Journal  of  the  Linnean  Society^  December  18,  1882.  _ 
2 "  Pharmacographia,"  pp.  520,  521. 
