154- Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



acid and water as by M. Dumas' calculation gave per cent, very 

 nearly Carbon 79*28 



Oxygen 10-36 



Hydrogen 10*36 



100* 

 Neglecting on this, as on other occasions, the atomic weights adopt- 

 ed by M. Dumas, it will be seen that camphor is a compound of 

 Ten atoms carbon 6 x 10=60 or 79 



One atom oxygen 8 or 1 0*5 



Eight atoms hydrogen 1x8 = 8 or 10*5 



76 100' 

 Proust discovered the existence of camphor in oil of lavender ; M. 



Dumas analysed some crystals of lavender camphor procured from 



the College de France : the results were perfectly similar to those 



obtained from common camphor. 



M. Dumas considers camphor as composed of a peculiar carburet- 



ted hydrogen (to which he gives the name of camphogen), and oxygen, 



or ten atoms carbon -j- eight atoms hydrogen ; or 



Camphogen 68 89*4 



One atom oxygen 8 106 



76 100* 



The density of the vapour of camphor was found to be 5*468, and M. 

 Dumas observes that supposing it to be composed of a volume of 

 camphogen = 4*7634? -f- half a volume of oxygen = 0*55 13, its den- 

 sity would be 5*3147, which comes very near to the experimental 

 result. Oil of turpentine was found to be constituted precisely of 

 the same proportions of carbon and hydrogen as camphogen : — the 

 density of its vapour was by experiment 4*765 to 4*764, which agrees 

 with the analysis. 



When oil of peppermint is cooled to about 32°, it yields prismatic 

 crystals, readily separable from the fluid part. These crystals pressed 

 between folds of blotting paper, are colourless • fusible at 75° Fahr., 

 volatile without decomposition, and again crystallize • they are very 

 slightly soluble in water, but dissolve in alcohol, aether, and oils. They 

 have the smell and taste of peppermint in a great degree. By 

 analysis it appeared that this camphor was composed of 77'3 carbon, 

 12*6 hydrogen, and 101 oxygen in 100 parts • and it differs from 

 common camphor in containing two more volumes of hydrogen. 



The solid portion of oil of aniseed yielded by analysis, in 100 parts, 

 81*35 carbon, 8*26 hydrogen, 10*39 carbon : by adjusting these re- 

 sults, slightly, it appears that oil of aniseed contains two volumes less 

 of hydrogen than common camphor. 



M. Dumas conceives that essential oils are compounds of hydrogen 

 and carbon, which, by oxidizement, produce camphors • this degree 

 of oxidizement, however, is not to be confounded with the higher 

 degree of it which occurs when the oils are freely exposed in thin 

 strata to the air, for they are then converted into resins. 



