CINNAMON, the bark of the tinder branches of a species of laurel (Cinnamoment seylanicutn), which is chiefly found in Ceylon, but grows also in Malabar and other parts of the East Indies. The tree attains a height of 20 or 30 feet. Its leaves are oval, the flowers are of a pale yellow color and the fruit is shaped somewhat like an acorn. There are two prin cipal seasons of the year in which the Ceylonese bark the cinnamon-trees. The first of these commences in April, and the last in November; the former balk the cipher is great crop is obtained. Atct are ranches of threejoerg s grOwth.tge-ilft n and the out side of the bark is scraped away. The twigs are then ripped up lengthwise with a knife and the bark is gradually loosened till it can be entirely taken off. It is then cut into slices and on being exposed to the sun curls up in drying. The smaller pieces, or as they are called, are inserted into the larger ones, and these are afterward tied into bundles. Cin namon is examined and arranged according to its quality by persons who, for this purpose, are obliged to taste and chew it. This is a very troublesome and disagreeable office, few per sons being able to hold out more than two or three days successively. After this examina tion, the bundles are made up to a length of about four feet and a weight of about 88 pounds each From the roots of the trees numerous offsets shoot up. These, when they have at tained the height of about 10 feet, are cut down and barked, being then about the thickness of a common walking-stick. The cinnamon which they yield is much finer than any other. In Ceylon the cinnamon-trees are said to be so common as to be used for fuel and other do mestic purposes. The smell of cinnamon, par
ticularly of the thinnest pieces, is delightfully fragrant, and its taste pungent and aromatic, with considerable sweetness and astringency. If infused in boiling water in a covered vessel it gives out much of its grateful flavor and forms an agreeable liquid. An oil is extracted from cinnamon, which is heavier than water. This is prepared in Ceylon, and almost wholly from the small and broken pieces. It is made, how ever, in such small quantities that the oil of cassia is generally substituted for it ; indeed, the cassia bark is often substituted for cinnamon, to which it has some resemblance, although in its qualities it is much weaker. The 'leaves, the fruit and the root of the cinnamon plant all yield oil of considerable value. That from the fruit is highly fragrant, of thick consistency, and in Ceylon was formerly made into candles for the sole use of the king.
The oil of cinnamon consists mainly of cin namic aldehyde, Cala°, which, when pure, is colorless. By exposure to the air it absorbs oxygen and is converted into cinnamic acid (q.v.).
Various forms of cinnamon have been used for many years in medicine as flavoring agents and as carminatives. As cinnamon is rich in volatile oils, the action of the drug resembles the action of the oil of cinnamon, which is closely allied to other volatile oils (q.v.). The active principle in the oil is an aldehyde of cm namic acid, and its antiseptic and antispasmodic action is due in large part to the cinnamic alde hyde.