And of cassia five hundred [shekels],.... Or two hundred and fifty ounces:after the shekel of the sanctuary; according to the standard weight kept there. This "cassia" was not the "cassia solutiva", which is of a purgative nature, and now in use in physic, but the "cassia odorata", or the sweet smelling "cassia": which, Pancirollus says, some take to be the nard, out of which a most sweet oil is pressed; and Servius says, that cassia is an herb of a most sweet smell.
Pliny speaks of it along with cinnamon; and Galen says, when cinnamon was wanting, it was usual to put in its stead a double quantity of cassia ; Leo Africanus speaks of trees in Africa bearing cassia, and which chiefly grew in Egypt ;and of oil olive an hin; containing twelve logs: according to Godwin , it was of our measure three quarts; but, as Bishop Cumberland has more exactly calculated it, it held a wine gallon, a quart, and a little more: this was the purest and best of oil, and most fit and proper to be a part of this holy anointing oil.
Ut supra, (Rer. Memorab. sive Deperd. par. 1.) tit. 11. p. 30. In Virgil. Bucol. Eclog. 2. Ut supra, (Nat. Hist. l. 12.) c. 19. Apud Dalechamp in Plin. ib. Descriptio Africae, l. 9. p. 752. Moses & Aaron, l.
6. c.