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a small still of any good pattern with a glass condenser and 

 plentiful water supply, working it by means of steam from the 

 factory boiler. As the distillation is a somewhat uncertain opera- 

 tion, especially to the beginner, and as it is probable that more 

 efficient methods will be discovered, the details of the principal 

 experiments tried are given below. Material for these experi- 

 ments was obtained from the gardens at Peradeniya (l,6oo feet), 

 Hakgala (5, 600 feet), and Anuradhapura (300 feet). 



CAMPHOR DISTILLATION. 

 The first distillations were from Il2lb. of prunings received 

 from Hakgala on the 28th June, 1900. These were conducted in 

 a large cask fitted with a metal cover leading to a metal condenser 

 which was cooled by a constant flow of water. Distillation was 

 effected by means of steam from a boiler, passing into the lower 

 part of the cask below a perforated iron plate. The prunings 

 were chopped up into fragments about I inch long, covered with 

 water, the top, connected with the condenser, luted on, and steam 

 turned on to gradually bring the water to the boil. 



A strong pungent smell of camphor and eucalyptus came off as 

 soon as distillation commenced, which persisted for some time 

 even when the distillate was cooled to 50° F., a temperature below 

 that which could be obtained practically. The loss was mini- 

 mized by bringing the water to the boil very slowly, and only 

 admitting just suificient steam to keep it at the boiling tempera- 

 ture. It was found that the metal cover to the cask retained a good 

 proportion of the camphor, but it was not so pure as when con- 

 densed in a wooden box similar to that in use in China and Japan. 

 The purest camphor was obtained when the distillate was made 

 to pass through a long glass tube surrounded with a jacket of cold 

 (running) water, the crystals being deposited when the tempera- 

 ture of the glass did not exceed 50° C. or 122' F., a temperature 

 that could easily be maintained in a condensing apparatus up- 

 country at all times of the year. In the low-country a more rapid 

 flow of condensing water and a proportionately longer conden- 

 sing apparatus would be required to obtain the same results, as 

 the water is much warmer and the steam also is at a higher tem- 

 perature. 



In all the experiments the camphor had almost entirely distilled 

 over during the first three hours, as several distillations conducted 

 for twelve hours and longer resulted in no better yield, and the 

 smell of the camphor under these circumstances was contaminated 

 with that of decomposition products from the nitrogenous matter, 

 &c., in the leaves and twigs. Three distillations could be made in 

 the same apparatus during the day. 



The amount of steam required for the distillation even of large 

 quantities would be nominal, and would hardly be felt in an ordi- 

 nary boiler working in a tea factory. 



YIELD OF CAMPHOR. 



The first distillation from part of the prunings obtained from 

 Hakgala in June, 1900, only yielded -35 per cent., but this was 



