784

ELEMENTS OF MATERIA MEDICA.

resorted to for ascertaining the quality of cinnamon (Percival, and 1shall, op. cil.) Inferior kinds are thicker, darker, browner, and ha'pungent, succeeded by a hitter, taste. In the London market tqualities of cinnamon are distinguished, viz .first, seconds, and thirds-Tellicherry or Bombay Cinnamon is grown nn one estate only, at ^cherry, by Mr. Brown, and is wholly consigned to Messrs. ForbesCo. It is inferior to Ceylon cinnamon, but superior to the Ma*variety. . . i«

Madras or Malabar Cinnamon is of inferior quality. It is gro" nthe neighbourhood of Madras. ,-j t ,

Cayenne Cinnamon is obtained by cultivation at Cayenne. Its v°‘ a ,oil is more acrid and peppery than the oil from the Ceylon ciu> lllU1(Yauquelin, Journ. de Pharm. t. iii. p. 434). ^. e

Composition. —In 1817, Yauquelin {Ibid. p. 433) made a cornpara ^analysis of the cinnamons of Ceylon and Cayenne. The constituen ^

restih

both were found to be volatile oil, tannin , mucilage, colouring(partially soluble in water and in alcohol, hut insoluble in ether),an acid, and ligneous fibre.

1. Oil of Cinnamon bark (Oleum Cinnamomi veri, offic.) is obtained in Cey'l 011 ’ f 0 (macerating the inferior pieces of the bark, reduced to a gross powder,

t>vo days, when both are submitted to distillation. As imported the oil varies . eI , c cwhat in its colour from yellow to red; the paler varieties are the most esteemed : ^j c (iLoudon druggists frequently submit the red oil of cinnamon to distillation, by ' .they procure two pale yellow oils; one lighter (amounting to about a quarterwhole), the other heavier, than water. The loss on this process is considerable,

near 10 per cent. Percival, (op. eit.) says that the oil obtained from the finer scinnamon is of a beautiful gold colour, while that from the coarser bark isbrownish. It is somewhat remarkable, therefore, that the Edinburgh Collegegive, as the characteristic of good oil of cinnamon, a “ cherry red” colour 3 ■ geracter which applies to oil of inferior quality, or to oil which has undergone cby keeping. Its odour is “ purely cinnamomic” ( Ph . Ed.) Its taste is ? i. s insweetish, afterwards cinnamomic, burning, and acrid. The oil of commerce s ^water; it is probably a mixture of the heavy and light oils. It possesses basi r j tpertics, for it combines with acids to form crystalline salts. “ Nitric acid connearly into a uniform crystalline mass” (Ph . Ed.) This solidification is usually ® g jn.panied with or followed by an intense red colour, owing to the formation ^ ( ,jlThe crystalline compound is a nitrate of the oil of cinnamon. The composition (of cinnamon is, according to Mulder ( Berl. Jahrb. Bd. xxxviii. S. 176) C 20 41 , byThis formula differs from those previously given by Dumas and Peligot, a ^j isBlanchet (Thomson’s Organ. Chemistry ), but it is the result of 19 analyses, a gC j ofprobably more correct. In old oil of cinnamon, crystals of cinnamic acid (conipy . tb eC18 H7 03) are sometimes deposited ; at the same time a resin is formed, to i c

deep colour of the oil is owing (Mulder, op. cit.) Hence the formation of c ) |, a ilacid docs not depend on the mere oxidation of the oil, as MM. Dumas and P eimagined. The last-mentioned chemists regard oil of cinnamon as a hydret jjer,myle (cinnamyle is a supposititious base assumed to consist of Cm H? O 2 )- i, 5 0 3 )>however, considers the oil to be a compound of one equivalent of benzoyle (C 14 41and six equivalents o f carburetted hydrogen (6 CH). tlen 13 ' 1 ’

Oil of Cinnamon leaf has been recently imported. I am informed by a g e ® ] eg ve soil whose estate in Ceylon it was obtained, that it is procured by macerating 1 j;qiii^’in sca-water, and afterwards submitting both to distillation. It is a yell°' v gheavier than water, and has an odour and taste analogous to those of oil of c .? 0 „.

2. Tannic acid .—This is a constituent of cinnamon hark. Yauquelin "p. 436) says it is in combination with a vegeto-animal matter.

Chemical Characteristics.— Sesquichloride of iron causes aflocculent precipitate ( tannate of iron) in infusion of cinnamon. Y pof gelatin also occasions a precipitate (tannate of gelatin) in the in