Cinnamomum. Cinnamon. The inner bark of shoots from the truncated stocks of Cinnamomum Zeylanicum, or Cinnamon; Lin. Syst., Enneandria monogynia; growing chiefly in Ceylon, and distinguished in commerce as Ceylon cinnamon. [The bark of Cinnamomum Zeylanicum and Cinnamomum Aromaticum. U.S.]

Cinnamomi Oleum. The Oil of Cinnamon, distilled from cinnamon, imported from Ceylon. [The volatile oil obtained from the bark of Cinnamomum Zeylanicum. U. S.] Description. Cinnamon bark is about 1/5th of a line in thickness, in closely-rolled quills, which are about 4 lines in diameter, containing several small quills within them; the colour is a characteristic brown; brittle, and with a splintery fracture; it has an aromatic odour, and warm astringent taste. The oil is of a bright yellow colour, with the odour and taste of the bark, but it gradually becomes red; it is heavier than water.

Prop. & Comp. The bark owes its important properties to the oil, but besides this oil, tannic acid is present in notable quantities, also resin, and cinnamic acid, etc. The essential part of oil of cinnamon has a composition represented by the formula (C18 H7 O2 H) or a hydride of cinnamyl; but there is likewise a hydrocarbon (C20 H16) in small amounts. Hydride of cinnamyl, when treated with hydrate of potash, is resolved into cinnamic acid (HO, C18 H7, O3) and hydrogen; and when exposed to the air, it gradually absorbs oxygen with the formation of cinnamic acid and a resin; both of which products of decomposition, as above stated, are found in the bark.

Off. Prep. - Of the Park. Aqua Cinnamomi. Cinnamon Water. (Cinnamon, bruised, twenty ounces; water, two gallons. Distil one gallon.) [Oil of cinnamon, half a fluid drachm; carbonate of magnesia, sixty grains; distilled water, two pints. Rub the oil with the carbonate of magnesia, then with the water. U. S.]

Pulvis Aromaticus. Aromatic Powder. (Cinnamon, nutmeg, and saffron, of each three ounces; cloves, one ounce and a half; cardamoms, free from their capsules, one ounce; refined sugar, twenty-five ounces.) [Cinnamon, ginger, each in fine powder, two troy ounces; cardamom, deprived of the capsules, nutmeg, each in fine powder, a troy ounce. U. S.]

Pulvis Cinnamomi Compositus, Lond. 1851. Compound Cinnamon Powder. (Cinnamon, two ounces; cardamoms, one ounce and a half; ginger, one ounce; long pepper, half an ounce. Rub together to a very fine powder.)

Tinctura Cinnamomi. Tincture of Cinnamon. (Cinnamon, in coarse powder, two ounces and a half; proof spirit, 20 fluid ounces. Prepared by maceration and percolation.)

Cinnamon bark is also contained in the compound tincture of lavender.

Therapeutics. Cinnamon is stimulant, aromatic, and carminative, also somewhat astringent; useful as an adjunct in diarrhoea. The oil may be employed in flatulence, and as a corrigent to purgatives.

Dose. Of the powdered bark, 10 gr. to 30 gr.; of aqua cinnamomi, 1 fl. oz. to 2 fl. oz.; of pulv. aromaticus, 10 gr. to 30 gr.; of the tincture, 1 fl. drm. to 2 fl. drm.; of oleum cinnamomi, 1 min. to 5 min.

Adulteration. The bark called Cassia, or Chinese Cinnamon (from Cinnamomum Cassias), is detected by its greater thickness and roughness, and less aromatic odour and taste.

Camphora. Camphor. A concrete volatile oil, prepared by sublimation of the wood of Camphora officinarum, and resublimed in England, in bell-shaped masses. Lin. Syst., Enneandria mo-nogynia; Rough camphor is imported from China.

Description. Camphor is usually sublimed in the form of hollow hemispherical cakes, and these are broken into small masses, which are crystalline, white, semitransparent and tough, with a peculiar odour and taste, at first pungent, followed by a sensation of cold. Crude camphor, as imported, is in the form of small crystalline grains, of a dirty white colour; this is mixed with lime before it is sublimed.

Prop. & Comp. Camphor is rather tough and difficult to pulverize, except when a few drops of spirit are added: sp. gr. 0.98. It is soluble in alcohol, ether, the volatile and fixed oils; little so in water, yet sufficient is taken up to give a strong taste and odour to that liquid; it sublimes entirely when heated. It has the nature of a concrete volatile oil, and its formula is (C20 H16 O8). Boiling point 399°. It is changed into camphoric acid by nitric acid.

Off. Prep. Aqua Camphorae. Camphor water.

Synonym. Mistura Camphorae. (Camphor, broken into pieces, half an ounce; distilled water, one gallon.) [Camphor, one hundred and twenty grains; alcohol, forty minims; carbonate of magnesia, half a troy ounce; distilled water, two pints. Rub the camphor first with alcohol, then with the carbonate of magnesia, and lastly with the water. U. S.]

Linimentum Camphorae. Camphor Liniment. (Camphor, one ounce; olive oil, four fluid ounces.)

Linimentum Camphorae Compositum. Compound Liniment of Camphor. (Camphor, two ounces and a half; English oil of lavender, one fluid drachm; strong solution of ammonia, five fluid ounces; rectified spirit, fifteen fluid ounces.) [Not officinal in U. S. P.]

Spiritus Camphorae. Spirit of Camphor. (Camphor, one fluid ounce; rectified spirit, nine fluid ounces.) [Camphor, four troy ounces; alcohol, two pints. U. S.]

Tinctura Camphorae cum Opio. Camphorated Tincture of Opium. (Opium, in coarse powder, forty grains; benzoic acid, forty grains; camphor, thirty grains; oil of anise, half a fluid drachm; proof spirit, a pint; one fluid drachm contains a quarter of a grain of opium.)

Linimentum Saponis. Liniment of soap also contains camphor.

Therapeutics. Stimulant at first, afterwards sedative; its action is exerted on the brain and nervous system, also upon the skin and mucous membranes. Externally it acts as a stimulant. Used in mania and melancholia as a calmative; in hysterical and other spasmodic nervous affections as an anti-spasmodic; in painful affections of the urinary organs, and dysmenorrhea, as a sedative; and in febrile conditions, the exanthemata, rheumatism, etc, as a diaphoretic. Externally, it is employed to stiff and painful parts.

Dose. Of camphor, 5 gr. upwards; of camphor water, 1 fl. oz. to 3 fl. oz.; of the spirit, 10 min. to 80 min., suspended in water (which precipitates it) by means of mucilage; of the tincture of camphor with opium, or camphorated tincture of opium, 1 fl. drm. upwards.

Adulteration. Camphor is not often adulterated, but another kind, called Borneo Camphor, from Dryobalanops Camphora, a guttiferous plant, is sometimes met with; heavier than water, less volatile, and more opaque than true camphor. An artificial camphor can be made by passing hydrochloric acid gas through volatile oil of turpentine.

Sassafras. Sassafras. [Sassafras Radicis Cortex. The bark of the root. U. S.] The dried root of Sassafras Officinale, or Sassafras tree; Lin. Syst., Enneandria monogynia; growing in the United States and Canada.

Description. In branched pieces, sometimes eight inches in diameter at the crown, the wood, light and spongy, of a pale grayish-brown colour; the bark, dark reddish-brown, also spongy; odour agreeable; taste warm, sweet, and aromatic; the bark is more powerful than the wood, it is also met with in chips.

Prop. & Comp. Sassafras root contains a volatile oil, resin, and a principle called sassafrin, with a little tannin, etc.

Off. Prep. It is contained in Decoctum Sarsae Compositum.

Therapeutics. A stimulant and diaphoretic, seldom given alone; used in chronic rheumatism, skin diseases, and syphilis. The volatile oil, Oleum Sassafras, may be employed.

Dose. Of the oil, 1 min. to 5 min.

Lauras. Sweet Bayberry (not officinal). The fruit of Laurus no. bilis, or Sweet Bay; Lin. Syst., Enneandria monogynia; growing in the South of Europe, cultivated in this country.

Description. The fruit is ovoid, about the size of a small cherry, wrinkled; dark brown or purple colour; consisting of a friable sarcocarp, including two oval fatty cotyledons; the odour is aromatic, and the taste warm. Bayberry leaves were formerly used in medicine; they are still employed by the confectioner.

Prop. & Comp. Bayberries contain a volatile oil, together with a fixed fatty oil; when pressed, both these are separated, and called Oil of Bays.

Therapeutics. Slightly stimulant and aromatic.

Adulteration. It is worthy of note, that the leaves of Laurus Cerasus, or Cherry Laurel, order Amygdalaceae, yielding prussic acid, have been occasionally substituted for the bay-laurel leaf, a dangerous exchange.

Nectandra. Bebeeru Bark. The Bark of Nectandra Rodiaei, the Green-heart Tree. The bark imported from British Guiana.

Beberiae Sulpas. Sulphate of Beberia. The sulphate of an alkaloid, prepared from the Bebeeru bark.

Description. The bark is found in large flat pieces, from one to two feet long, from two to six inches broad, and about a quarter of an inch thick, heavy, hard and fibrous; of a grayish-brown colour externally, reddish or cinnamon brown within; taste very bitter, with some astringency.

Prop. & Comp. Bebeeru bark contains an alkaloid, not yet crystallized, Beberia or Bibirine (C38 H21 N O6), a yellow resinous-looking body; soluble in alcohol, slightly in ether, scarcely in water; it forms salts with acids; the commercial and officinal salt is the impure sulphate which occurs in dark brown, thin, translucent scales, yellow when powdered, with a strong bitter taste, soluble in water and alcohol. Composition (C38 H21 No6, So3). Its watery solution gives a white precipitate with chloride of barium, and with caustic soda a yellowish white precipitate which is dissolved by agitating the mixture with twice its volume of ether. The etherial solution separated by a pipette and evaporated, leaves a yellow translucent residue, entirely soluble in dilute acids. It leaves no ash when burnt; water forms with it a clear brown solution.

Off. Prep. Sulphate of Beberia. [Not officinal in U. S. P.] Sulphate of beberia is prepared by exhausting the powdered bark by maceration and percolation with water, strongly acidulated with sulphuric acid. The colouring and other matters are then precipitated from this solution by mixing it with milk of lime (not sufficient to render the fluid alkaline), and the deposit separated by filtration. To the filtered solution ammonia is added until the fluid has a faint ammoniacal odour, the precipitate which forms is collected on a cloth, squeezed and dried in a vapour bath. The precipitate is powdered and exhausted by repeated boiling with rectified spirit and to the solution water is added, and the spirit recovered by distillation; the residue is treated with dilute sulphuric acid, till the fluid becomes slightly acid, it is then evaporated to dryness on a water bath, pulverized and the powder treated with cold water, which dissolves the sulphate of beberia, the solution is evaporated to a syrupy consistence, and spread in thin layers on flat porcelain or glass plates, and dried at a heat not exceeding 140°. It should be preserved in well-stoppered bottles.

Therapeutics. The bark is seldom given; the sulphate of beberia is tonic and antiperiodic; used in debility and periodic affections, it has been found but an imperfect substitute for quinine.

Dose. Of the sulphate of beberia, 2 gr. to 10 gr.