OPIUM, CAMPHOR 151 



amount of narcotic juice, and poppy heads, or poppy capsules, 

 are often used in fomentations to allay pain. The seeds 

 yield an oil resembling olive oil, and are often used to adul- 

 terate it. 



SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Before the war we obtained most of 

 our supplies from Asiatic Turkey, Smyrna being the port of 

 shipment ; very considerable quantities, too, came from 

 Turkey in Europe and from Persia, while a small amount 

 came from India. During the last four years the Turkish 

 supplies have fallen off and those from India have enormously 

 increased. 



CAMPHOR. Latin Camphora, from Arabic kafur. Camphor 

 is a white, translucent substance obtained from the wood of 

 the Cinnamomum camphor, or Camphor Laurel. It has 

 a pungent aromatic odour and has many and various uses. 

 Though insoluble in water it is soluble in milk. 



The camphor laurel grows to about thirty feet high, and has 

 glossy, evergreen, oval-shaped leaves, and long spreading 

 branches. It bears little clusters of tiny yellowish flowers. 

 The wood of the tree is cut up into chips, and exposed to 

 the steam of boiling water. The camphor vapour rises from 

 the wood, and is then condensed. This is the crude camphor, 

 which is exported, and which after its arrival in this country 

 has to be refined or purified. 



Formosa sends us most of our camphor at present, but 

 the camphor tree has been successfully introduced into the 

 Cape of Good Hope and Jamaica, as well as into other countries, 

 and there seems no reason why we should not be able to 

 supply our own needs from trees grown in our own dominions. 



SUMMARY. Most of our Peruvian bark and quinine comes 

 from Java and the Netherlands, and our opium from Turkey, 

 very small amounts of these being imported from India. 



With these two exceptions most of the other drugs given 

 in the Annual Statement of Trade are unenumerated, only 

 the total value of the imports being given. 



The foreign countries which sent us the largest supplies 



