JOURNAL 



OP 



NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, CHEMISTRY, 



AND 



THE ARTS. 



yuNE 1798. 



ARTICLE L 



AhJiraBofa Memoir on Camphor and the Camphoric Acid, read to the Firji Clafs of the National 

 hiflitute of France, By BOUILLON La Grange *. 



V>iAMPHOR, of which the relation, the co-exiftence, and almoft the identity with the 

 volatile oils, have long fince fixed the attention of chemifts, has appeared to me to defervc 

 a particular examination. I was defirous of confirming the difcovery of Mr. Kofegarten 

 on the property of camphor to become converted into a peculiar acid by the aftion of ni- 

 trous acid. The enquiries to which this undertaking has led me, have not only confirmed 

 his difcovery, but have likewife prefented various fa£ts of immediate intereft to the vege- 

 table analyfis. 



- Camphor has long been an obje£t of chemical attention. Several chemifl:s have fup- 

 pofed that it exifts in all the aromatic plants, particularly thofe which contain abundance 

 of volatile oil ; biit as the camphor obtained from mod of thefe plants conftantly retains 

 the odour of the plant which afforded it, there is feafon to think, according to the remark 

 of Citizen Fourcroy, that it is combined with the volatile oils of thefe vegetables. I hope 

 to clear up this fadt as foon &s I fhall procure a fufficient quantity of recent volatile oils ; 

 for my experiments have fhewn that thefe afford the grcateft quantity. 



Prouft,^who has made experiments relative to this objeft, has merely indicated a procefs 



♦ Annales de Chimie xxiif. '1^3. 

 Vot. II.— June 1798. O for 



