CASSIA BARK is the aromatic bark derived from various species of Cinnamomum other than C. zeylαnicum, which is the source of the true cinnamon of commerce. The greater part of the supply coming from China, it is sometimes termed Chinese cinnamon. The tree or trees which yield the Chinese supplies are very extensively cultivated throughout the southern provinces of that empire, and grow with little call for attention in situations unsuited for other forms of cultivation. From various species of Cinnamomum, cassia is also obtained in Northern India and Nepal, in Java, Borneo, Sumatra, and the Philippine Islands. The bark is imported into England in bundles, which are from 1 foot to 18 inches in length, and weigh about 1 lb. The bundles consist of quills of bark from half an inch to an inch in diameter, generally single, rarely double. The bark is much thicker than that of true cinnamon; the taste is more pungent and the flavour less delicate, though somewhat similar to that of cinnamon. A large quantity of thick, woody bark, of inferior quality, is now imported under the name Cassia vera, or Wild Cassia. The properties of cassia bark depend on the presence of a volatile oil—the oil of cassia, which is imported in a pretty pure state as an article of commerce ∕rom Canton. Cassia bark is in much more extensive demand on the Continent of Europe than in Great Britain, being preferred to cinnamon by Southern nations. Both oil and bark are useful in medicine; but their chief use is for flavouring liqueurs and chocolate, and in cooking generally. When ground as a spice it is difficult to distinguish cassia from cinnamon, and it is a common practice to substitute the cheap common spice for the more valuable article. The adulteration may be detected by the behaviour of a ...

CASSIANUS, JoannesEremita, or Joannes Massiliensis, a celebrated recluse, and one of the first founders of monastic institutions in Western Europe, was probably born about 360, and is supposed to have died about the year 448. The place of his nativity has been much disputed, but he spent the early part of his life in the monastery of Bethlehem, with his friend Germanus. In company with that monk he visited Egypt, and dwelt for several years among the ascetics of the desert near the banks of the Nile. In 403 he repaired to Constantinople, where he received ordination as deacon from the hands of Chrysostom. At Marseilles he founded two religious societies—a convent for nuns, and the abbey of St Victor, which during his time is said to have contained 5000 inmates. In later times his regulations enjoyed a high reputation, and were adopted by the monks and nuns of Port Royal. He was eventually canonized; and a festival in his honour long continued to be celebrated at Marseilles on the 25th of July. Cassianus was one of the first and most prominent of the Semi-Pelagians, a sect who rejected the Augustinian positions that man, since the fall of Adam, is by nature wholly worthless and incapable of even right desire, and that everything holy in him is the Divine gift, bestowed without reference to any merit, or even wish, on his part; but did not assert, with Pelagius, that man is born perfectly pure, and that the exercise of his free-will is sufficient to secure salvation. Cassianus maintained that while man is by nature sinful, he yet has some good remaining in him, and that, while the immediate gift of God’s grace is necessary to salvation, conversion may also be commenced by the exercise of man’s will. He further asserted that God is always willing to bestow his grace ...