518 LAURACE.^. 



May 



voir in the trunk from which about five gallons of camphor oil were 

 obtained, though much could not be caught^ The liquid was a volatile 

 oil holding in solution a resin, which after a few days' exposure to the 

 air, was left in a syrupy state. This camphor oil, which is termed Bar- 

 neene, is isomeric with oil of turpentine, C^^ff'^, yet in the crude state 

 holding in solution borneol and resin. By fractional distillation, it may 

 be separated into two portions, the one more volatile than the other but 

 not differing in composition. 



ifFo 



GinnaTnomum 



brown liquid holding in solution an abundance of common camphor, 

 wbicli it speedily deposits in crystals when the temperature is sliglitly 

 reduced. From Borneo Camphor Oil it may be distinguished by its 

 odour of sassafras. We find no optical difference in the rotatory power 

 of the oils; both are dextrogyre to the same extent, which is still the 

 case if the camphor from the lauraceous camphor oil is separated by 

 cooling. Borneo camphor oil, for a sample of which we are indebted to 

 Prof de Yriese, deposits no camphor even when kept at -15° C. 



Noa 



It has been known for many 



3 



years that the Chinese are in tlie habit of using a third variety of 



camphor, having a pecuniaiy value intermediate between that of common 



camphor and of Borneo camphor. This substance is manufactured at 



Canton and in the island of Hainan, the plant from which it is obtained 



bemg Blumea halsamifera DC, a tall herbaceous Composita, of the 



tribe Inuloidece, called in Chinese Ngai, abundant in Tropical Eastern 

 Asia. 



The drug lias been supplied to us^ in two forms,— crude and pure, 

 the first being in crystalline grains of a dirty white, contaminated with 

 vegetable remains; the second in colourless crystals as much as an 

 inch in length. By sublimation the substance may be obtained in 

 distinct, brilliant crystals, agreeing precisely with those of Borneo 

 camphor, which they also resemble in odour and hardness, as well 



as m being a little heavier than water and not so volatile as common 

 camphor. 



The chemical examination of Ngai camphor, performed by Plowman, 

 "."^^™, direction of Prof. Attfield, has proved that it has the composi- 

 tion C H 0, hke Borneo camphor. But the two substances differ in 

 optical properties,'^ an alcoholic solution of Ngai camphor being levogyre 

 m about the_ same degree that one of Borneo camjihor is dextrogye. By 

 boiling nitric acid, Borneo camphor is transformed into common 

 {dextrogyre) camphor, whereas Ngai camphor affords a similar yet/«t'O0''« 

 camphor, m all probability identical with the stearoptene of Chrysan' 

 tkcmum Parthenium Pers. 



As Ngai camphor is about ten times the price of Formosa camphor, 

 It never finds its way to Europe as an article of trade. In China it is 

 consumed partly in medicine and partly in perfuming the line kinds ot 



luentns^i'Snf. 1? '^'\ ^Jth century Canton._naaln.ry,SV;.»r./>«/--^,l8ff '^• 



iw-er of the tJ^^P' ■''^ ^^'- ^- "' * Fliickiger in P/^arm. Journ. April IS, 



■c-wer, 01 the Imperial Maritime Custou.s, lb74. 829. 



