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 s says, some take to be the nard, out of which a most sweet oil is pressed; and Servius t says, that cassia is an herb of a most sweet smell. Pliny u 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 w; Leo Africanus speaks of trees in Africa bearing cassia, and which chiefly grew in Egypt x;
and of oil olive an hin; containing twelve logs: according to Godwin y, 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.
s Ut supra, (Rer. Memorab. sive Deperd. par. 1.) tit. 11. p. 30. t In Virgil. Bucol. Eclog. 2. u Ut supra, (Nat. Hist. l. 12.) c. 19. w Apud Dalechamp in Plin. ib. x Descriptio Africae, l. 9. p. 752. y Moses & Aaron, l. 6. c. 9.