1871 1872 1875
1,359,327 lb., 1,267,953 lb., 1,500,000 lb.
value £67,966. value £64,747.
At present the cultivation of coffee is displacing that of cinnamon,
the exports of the former in 1875 being 928,606 cwts. valued at 4¼
millions sterling. Of the crop of 1872 there were 1,179,516 lb. of
cinnamon shipped to the United Kingdom, 53,439 lb. to the United States
of North America, and 10,000 lb. to Hamburg.
Besides the above-named exports of cinnamon, the official
statistics[1941] record the export of “_Cinnamon Bark_”—8846 lb. in
1871—23,449 lb. in 1872. This name includes two distinct articles,
namely _Cinnamon Chips_, and a very thick bark derived from old stems.
The _Cinnamon Chips_ which, as explained on the previous page, are
the first trimmings of the shoots, are very aromatic; they used to
be considered worthless, and were thrown away. The second article,
to which in the London drug sales the name “_Cinnamon Bark_” is
restricted, is in flat or slightly channelled fragments, which are as
much as ⁴/₁₀ of an inch in thickness, and remind one of New Granada
cinchona bark. It is very deficient in aromatic qualities, and quite
unfit for use in pharmacy.
[1939] Formerly called _fardela_ or _fardello_, a name signifying in
the Romance languages _bundle_ or _package_. The word _fardel_, having
the same meaning, is found in old English writers.
[1940] Yet the cultivation was far more extensive in the earlier
part of the century, as we may judge by the statement that the five
principal cinnamon gardens around Negumbo, Colombo, Barberyn, Galle,
and Matura, were _each from 15 to 20 miles in circumference_ (Tennent’s
_Ceylon_, ii. 163).
[1941] _Ceylon Blue Books_ for 1871 and 1872, printed at Colombo.
In most other countries into which _Cinnamomum zeylanicum_ has been
transplanted, it has been found that, partly from its tendency to pass
into new varieties and partly perhaps from want of careful cultivation
and the absence of the skilled cinnamon-peeler, it yields a bark
appreciably different from that of Ceylon. Of other cinnamon-producing
districts, those of Southern India may be mentioned as affording the
_Malabar_ or _Tinnevelly_, and the _Tellicherry Cinnamon_ of commerce,
the latter being almost as good as the cinnamon of Ceylon.[1942] The
cultivation in Java commenced in 1825. The plant, according to Miquel,
is a variety of _C. zeylanicum_, distinguished by its very large leaves
which are frequently 8 inches long by 5 inches broad. The island
exported in 1870, 1109 peculs (147,866 lb.); in 1871 only 446 peculs
(59,466 lb.).[1943]
Cinnamon is also grown in the French colony of Guyana and in Brazil,
but on an insignificant scale. The samples of the bark from those
countries which we have examined are quite unlike the cinnamon of
Ceylon. That of Brazil in particular has evidently been taken from
stems several years old.
The importations of cinnamon into the United Kingdom from Ceylon are
shown by the following figures:—
1867 1869 1870
859,034 lb. 2,611,473 lb. 2,148,405 lb.
1871 1872 1876
1,430,518 lb. 1,015,461 lb. 1,339,060 lb.
During 1872, 56,000 lb. of cinnamon were imported from other countries.
=Description=—Ceylon cinnamon of the finest description is imported
in the form of sticks, about 40 inches in length and ⅜ of an inch
in thickness, formed of tubular pieces of bark about a foot long,
dexterously arranged one within the other, so as to form an even rod of
considerable firmness and solidity. The quills of bark are not rolled
up as simple tubes, but each side curls inwards so as to form a channel
with in-curving sides, a circumstance that gives to the entire stick
a somewhat flattened cylindrical form. The bark composing the stick
is extremely thin, measuring often no more than ¹/₁₁₁₁ of an inch in
thickness. It has a light brown, dull surface, faintly marked with
shining wavy lines, and bearing here and there scars or holes at the
points of insertion of leaves or twigs. The inner surface of the bark
is of a darker hue. The bark is brittle and splintery, with a fragrant
odour, peculiar to itself and the allied barks of the same genus. Its
taste is saccharine, pungent, and aromatic.
[1942] Some of it however is very thick, though neatly quilled.
[1943] _Consular Reports_, Aug. 1873. 952.
The bales of cinnamon which arrive in London are always re-packed
in the dock warehouses, in doing which a certain amount of breakage
occurs. The spice so injured is kept separate and sold as _Small
Cinnamon_, and is very generally used for pharmaceutical purposes. It
is often of excellent quality.
=Microscopic Structure=—By the peeling above described, Ceylon
cinnamon is deprived of the suberous coat and the greater part of the
middle cortical layer, so that it almost consists of the mere liber
(_endophlœum_). Three different layers are to be distinguished on a
transverse section of this tissue:—
1. The external surface which is composed of one to three rows of large
thick-walled cells, forming a coherent ring; it is only interrupted by
bundles of liber-fibres, which are obvious even to the unaided eye;
they compose in fact the wavy lines mentioned in the last page.
2. The middle layer is built up of about ten rows of parenchymatous
thin-walled cells, interrupted by much larger cells containing deposits
of mucilage, while other cells, not larger than those of the parenchyme
itself, are loaded with essential oil.
3. The innermost layer exhibits the same thin-walled but smaller
cells, yet intersected by narrow, somewhat darker, medullary rays, and
likewise interrupted by cells containing either mucilage or essential
oil.
Instead of bundles of liber-fibres, fibres mostly isolated are
scattered through the two inner layers, the parenchyme of which
abounds in small starch granules accompanied by tannic matter. On a
longitudinal section, the length of the liber-fibres becomes more
evident, as well as oil-ducts and gum-ducts.
=Chemical Composition=—The most interesting and noteworthy constituent
of cinnamon is the essential oil, which the bark yields to the extent
of ½ to 1 per cent., and which is distilled in Ceylon,—very seldom in
England. It was prepared by Valerius Cordus, who stated,[1944] somewhat
before 1544, that the oils of _cinnamon_ and _cloves_ belong to the
small number of essential oils which are heavier than water, “fundum
petunt.” About 1571 the essential oils of _cinnamon_, mace, _cloves_,
_pepper_, nutmegs and several others, were also distilled by Guintherus
of Andernach,[1945] and again, about the year 1589, by Porta.[1946]
In the latter part of the last century, it used to be brought to Europe
by the Dutch. During the five years from 1775 to 1779 inclusive, the
average quantity _annually_ disposed of at the sales of the Dutch
East India Company was 176 ounces. The wholesale price in London
between 1776 and 1782 was 21_s._ per ounce; but from 1785 to 1789, the
oil fetched 63_s._ to 68_s._, the increase in value being doubtless
occasioned by the war with Holland commenced in 1782. The oil is now
largely produced in Ceylon, from which island the quantity exported in
1871 was 14,796 ounces; and in 1872, 39,100 ounces.[1947] The oil is
shipped chiefly to England.
Oil of cinnamon is a golden yellow liquid, having a sp. gr. of 1·035,
a powerful cinnamon odour, and a sweet and aromatic but burning taste.
It deviates a ray of polarized light a very little to the left. The oil
consists chiefly of _Cinnamic Aldehyde_, C₆H₅(CH)₂COH, together with a
variable proportion of hydrocarbons. At a low temperature it becomes
turbid by the deposit of a camphor, which we have not examined. The oil
easily absorbs oxygen, becoming thereby contaminated with resin and
cinnamic acid, C₆H₅(CH)₂COOH.
[1944] In his book “De artificiosis extractionibus,” published by
Gesner, Argentorati, 1561, fol. 226.
[1945] _De medicina veteri et nova_, Basileæ, 1571. 630-635.
[1946] _Magiæ Naturalis libri xx._ Neapoli 1589. 184.
[1947] _Ceylon Blue Books_ for 1871 and 1872.
Cinnamon contains sugar, mannite, starch, mucilage, and tannic acid.
The _Cinnamomin_ of Martin (1868) has been shown by Wittstein to be
very probably mere mannite. The effect of iodine on a decoction of
cinnamon will be noticed under the head of Cassia Lignea. Cinnamon
afforded to Schätzler (1862) 5 per cent. of ash consisting chiefly of
the carbonates of calcium and potassium.
=Uses=—Cinnamon is used in medicine as a cordial and stimulant, but is
much more largely consumed as a spice.
=Adulteration=—Cassia lignea being much cheaper than cinnamon, is very
commonly substituted for it. So long as the bark is entire, there is no
difficulty in its recognition, but if it should have been reduced to
powder, the case is widely different. We have found the following tests
of some service, when the spice to be examined is in powder:—Make a
decoction of powdered cinnamon of known genuineness; and one of similar
strength of the suspected powder. When cool and strained, test a fluid
ounce of each with one or two drops of tincture of iodine. A decoction
of cinnamon is but little affected, but in that of cassia a deep
blue-black tint is immediately produced (see further on, Cort. Cassiæ).
The cheap kinds of cassia, known as _Cassia vera_, may be distinguished
from the more valuable _Chinese Cassia_, as well as from cinnamon, by
their richness in mucilage. This can be extracted by cold water as a
thick glairy liquid, giving dense ropy precipitates with corrosive
sublimate or neutral acetate of lead, but not with alcohol.
Other products of the Cinnamon Tree.
_Essential Oil of Cinnamon Leaf_ (_Oleum Cinnamomi foliorum_)—This is a
brown, viscid, essential oil, of clove-like odour, which is sometimes
exported from Ceylon. It has been examined by Stenhouse (1854), who
found it to have a sp. gr. of 1·053, and to consist of a mixture of
_Eugenol_ (p. 284) with a neutral hydrocarbon having the formula
C₁₀H₁₆. It also contains a small quantity of benzoic acid.
_Essential Oil of Cinnamon Root_ (_Oleum Cinnamomi radicis_)—A yellow
liquid, lighter than water, having a mixed odour of camphor and
cinnamon, and a strong camphoraceous taste. Both this oil and that of
the leaf were described by Kämpfer (1712) and by Seba in 1731,[1948]
and perhaps by Garcia de Orta so early as 1563. Solid camphor may
also be obtained from the root. A water distilled from the flowers,
and a fatty oil expressed from the fruits are likewise noticed by old
writers, but are unknown to us.
[1948] _Phil. Trans._ xxxvi. (1731) 107.