Fig. 264, Pl. XXXVI, shows a photomicrograph of powdered cocoanut shells, mounted in gelatin. The long, spindle-shaped stone cells are

especially apparent,

Ground cocoanut shells have been used in various spices besides cloves, especially allspice and pepper. In the following tabulated results of analyses by Winton, Ogden, and Mitchell * are shown the wide deviation between the chemical constants of cocoanut shells and several of the spices in which they appear as adulterants.

Nature and Composition.-Allspice is the dried fruit of the Eugenia pimenta, an evergreen tree belonging to the same family (Myrtacea) as the clove. It is indigenous to the West Indies, and is especially cultivated in Jamaica.

The allspice berry is grayish or reddish brown in color, and is hard and globular, measuring from 4 to 8 mm. in diameter, being surmounted by a short style. This is imbedded in a depression, and around it are the four lobes of the calyx, or the scars left by them after they have fallen off. The berry has a wrinkled, ligneous pericarp, with many small excrescences filled with essential oil. The pericarp is easily broken between the fingers, showing the berry to be formed of two cells with a single, brown, kidney-shaped seed in each, covered with a thin, outer coating, inclosing an embryo rolled up in a spiral.

The berries are gathered when they have attained their largest size, but before becoming fully ripe. If allowed to mature beyond this stage, some of the aroma is lost.

*Conn. Ag. Exp. Sta. Rep., 1901, p. 225.

Though considerably less pungent than other spices, allspice possesses an aroma not unlike cloves and cassia. In chemical composition it most resembles cloves, containing both volatile oil and tannin; but, unlike cloves, it contains much starch, the starch being contained in the seeds. The volatile oil of allspice is very similar to clove oil. It is slightly lævorotary, and is composed of eugenol and a sesquiterpene not determined. It is present in allspice to the extent of 3 to 4.5 per cent. The boilingpoint of the oil is 255° C.

Authoritative full analyses of allspice are even more meager than of cloves. Analyses of one sample of whole allspice and five samples of the ground spice, made by Richardson,* are thus summarized:

Seventeen samples of unadulterated allspice, as sold on the Connecticut market, were analyzed by Winton and Mitchell,† with maximum and minimum results as follows:

Three samples of pure whole allspice were more fully analyzed by Winton, Mitchell, and Ogden with the results given on page 436.‡

The Tannin Equivalent in Allspice.-Tannin is present in allspice, though to a less extent than in cloves. The exact amount present is rarely determined, but rather the " oxygen equivalent," or quercitannic acid, as explained on page 429, the determination being carried out as there detailed.

* U. S. Dept. of Agric., Div. of Chem., Bul. 13, p. 229.

† An. Rep. Conn. Exp. Sta., 1898, pp. 178, 179.

Ibid., pp. 208, 209.

Required.

Microscopical Examination of Powdered Allspice.-By soaking the powder twenty-four hours or more in chloral hydrate, many of the harder portions are rendered much more transparent than would otherwise be possible. Fig. 83, after Moeller, shows the microscopical structure of various elements that go to make up allspice powder.

The epidermis, or outer layer of the berry with its small cells, is shown in cross-section at (1a) and in surface view at (2). Just beneath the outer coat are the large oil spaces (1b) and still further below the stonecells (1c). The fruit parenchyma (3) has vascular tissues running through it. (4) and (5) are the inner epidermis and stone cells of the dividing partitions between the seeds. Small hairs connected with the outer epidermis are shown at (6). (7) and (8) show in cross-section a portion of the seed-shell and inclosed seed or embryo, with the starch (8a) and the colored lumps of gum or resin (8b) of a port-wine color. These colored cells exist in the seed coating, and, although only one is here shown, constitute a very important and striking characteristic of allspice. (9) represents the spongy parenchyma of the seed shell, and (10) shows its epidermis. In the parenchyma of the fruit and of the partitions between the cells are seen, but not always plainly, minute crystals of calcium oxalate (see (4) and (5)).

These details so closely drawn by Moeller are idealized, but serve well to indicate what should be looked for. In practice the watermounted specimen shows all the characteristics necessary to identify pure allspice, and most if not all its adulterants. In fact pimento is one of the easiest spices to identify under the microscope, by reason of its striking characteristics.

Three distinctive features are especially typical, viz.: First, the starch grains, which are very uniform in size, measuring about 0.008 mm. in diameter, being nearly circular as a rule, and often arranged in groups not unlike masses of buckwheat starch. Ordinarily these masses contain fewer granules than do those of buckwheat. The granules are

FIG. 83.-Powdered Allspice under the Microscope. X125. (After Moeller.)

The starch grains

smaller and more inclined to the circular than to the polygonal form, while in many cases they have distinct central hila. are very numerous and are found in nearly every field. XIX.

A second distinctive feature of allspice is the stone cells, of which there are many. These are more often colorless, and in most cases very large and plainly marked. They are sometimes seen singly and at other times grouped together. Frequently they are attached to pieces of brown parenchyma.

The third and most characteristic feature of allspice powder under the microscope is the striking appearance of the lumps of gum or resin, which are of a more or less deep port-wine or amber color and are contained in the middle layers of the seed coat. These cells are very striking, occurring sometimes in isolated bits, and in other cases in aggregations of from 2 to 4 or even 6 to 8 cells. These resinous lumps appear plainly in Fig. 194, Pl. XIX. Droplets of oil are occasionally seen, but not in profusion. As a rule the oil is forced out of its large containing cells and into the surrounding tissue by the process of drying.

U. S. Standards.-According to the U. S. standard for allspice, quer citannic acid should not be less than 8%, total ash not more than 6%, ash insoluble in hydrochloric acid not more than 0.4%, crude fiber not more than 25%.

Adulteration of Allspice. The most common adulterants reported in powdered allspice are cocoanut shells and the cereal starches. Besides these the writer has found in Massachusetts, peas, pea hulls, exhausted ginger, cayenne, olive stones, pepper, and turmeric. To this list may be added clove stems, which are on record as a not uncommon adulterant in some localities. All of these are to be readily recognized by a careful microscopical examination.

CASSIA AND CINNAMON.

Nature and Composition. The terms cassia and cinnamon are interchangeable in commerce, though, strictly speaking, they represent two separate and distinct species of the genus Cinnamomum, belonging to the laurel family (Lauracea). True cinnamon is the bark of Cinnamomum zeylanicum, a tree from 20 to 30 feet high, having horizontal or drooping branches, and native to the island of Ceylon, but cultivated also in some parts of tropical Asia, in Sumatra, and in Java. The entire yield of pure Ceylon cinnamon is extremely small, and but little of it is found in this country. It is the very thin, inner bark of the tree, and is of a pale, yellowish-brown color, being found on the market in long, cylindrical, quill-like rolls or pieces, the smaller rolls being inclosed in the larger. The outer surface is marked by round dark spots, corresponding to points of insertion of the leaves, and it is also furrowed lengthwise by somewhat wavy, light-colored lines. The inner surface of the bark is darker colored, and has no lines. In thickness the bark varies from 1.5 to 3 mm. Both the inner and outer coatings of the bark of Ceylon cinnamon are usually removed in the process of preparation, so