_Cinnamon._
The qualities of Cinnamon depend upon the presence of an _essential
oil_. _Benzoic acid_ has been found in it. It is principally employed to
cover the taste of nauseous medicines, and to correct the griping
quality of different purgatives. It is, however, in itself, astringent
and tonic, whence it has been found efficacious in the relief of alvine
fluxes. ADULTERATIONS. It is sometimes intermixed with cinnamon from
which the oil has been drawn; the fraud is detected by the weakness of
the odour and taste of the specimen; sometimes it is mixed with
_cassia_, but this is soon discovered, for cassia is thick and clumsy,
breaks short, and smooth, and has a remarkable slimy taste, whereas the
fracture of cinnamon is shivery, and its flavour warm and clean.
Cinnamon ought not to leave a mawkish taste in the mouth; this
circumstance denotes an inferior quality. There is an inferior kind
imported into Europe from China, through the hands of private merchants;
this is distinguished by being darker coloured, rougher, denser, and by
breaking shorter; the taste is also harsher, more pungent, and ligneous,
without the sweetness of Ceylon cinnamon. DOSE of the cinnamon in powder
is from grs. x. to ℈j. OFFICINAL PREP. _Aqua Cinnamomi_, L.E.D, _Spir
Cinnamomi_, L.E.D. _Tinct. Cinnamomi_, L.E.D. _Tinct. Cinnamom. co._ L.
_Pulv. Cinnamom. comp._ L.E.
CINNAMOMI OLEUM. It is principally imported from Ceylon: it has a
whitish yellow colour, a pungent burning taste, and the peculiar fine
flavour of cinnamon in a very great degree.[473] It should sink in
water, and be entirely soluble in alcohol. It is one of the most
powerful stimulants which we possess. Dose, ♏︎i to iij, on a lump of
sugar.
COCCUS. L.E. (Coccus Cacti.) Coccinella. D.
_Cochineal._
It is an insect imported from Mexico and New Spain, and has the
appearance of a wrinkled berry or seed of a deep mulberry colour, with a
white powder between the wrinkles. USES. Its medicinal virtues are now
entirely discredited, and it is only employed for the sake of its
colouring matter, for the purpose of a dye; it was known to the
Phœnicians, and was the _tolu_ of the Jews. Its watery solution is of a
violet crimson, its alcoholic of a deep crimson, and its alkaline of a
purple hue; the colour of the watery infusion is brightened by acids,
cream of tartar, and alum, and at the same time partly precipitated. Dr.
John has given the name of _Cochenelin_ to this colouring principle,
which M. M. Pelletier and Caventou have lately obtained in a perfectly
pure state, as a very brilliant purple red powder with a granular
crystalline appearance; these chemists propose to call it _Carmine_, but
as Mr. Children very justly observes, if we adopt the term, its
termination should be altered, to avoid confounding the pure colouring
matter with the pigment in common use. It may be called _Carmina_, a
more harmonious name than Cochenelin, (Ann: de Chimie, vol. viii).
INCOMPATIBLE SUBSTANCES. The colouring matter is decomposed by _sulphate
of iron_, _sulphate of zinc_, and _acetate of lead_. OFFICINAL
PREPARATIONS. _Tinct: Cardamom: comp:_ L.D. _Tinct: Cinchon: comp:_ L.D.
_Tinct: Gentian_, _comp:_ E. _Tinct: Cantharid:_ D. ADULTERATIONS. It is
invariably adulterated with pieces of dough, formed in moulds, and
coloured with cochineal. I understand that this fraud gives employment
to a very considerable number of women and children in this metropolis.
A cargo of the counterfeit article was some time since exported, in
order to obtain the drawback; by throwing a suspected sample into water,
we shall dissolve the spurious ones, and ascertain the extent of the
adulteration.