| 1867 | 1869 | 1870 | 1871 | 1872 | 1876 |
| 859,034 lb. | 2,611,473 lb. | 2,148,405 lb. | 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.
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]