CAMPEACHY CAMPHOR. 



837 



hills lying in the mouth of the bay, and intercepting 

 the view of the sea. The passage into the loch is by 

 the east side of the most easterly island, which is 

 called Island-Devar. The other islet may be ap- 

 proached by the sands at low water. The town of 

 Campbelltown is mostly of modern erection, and lies 

 like a semicircle round the head of the bay, with a 

 number of gentlemen's seats or cottages scattered at 

 either end along the declivities. The place is well 

 protected from the weather. Heights overhang the 

 town in nearly all directions, and the only low part of 

 the back ground is that in the direction of Mahir- 

 hanish bay, which has some appearance of being 

 alluvial. Prior to the year 1700, this town was a 

 mere fishing village. In that year it was erected into 

 a royal burgh, through the interest of the Argyle 

 family. The name of Campbelltown was conferred 

 in compliment to the family of Argyle. Anciently 

 the town was called Dalruadhain (pronounced Dala- 

 ruan), from having been the capital of the pristine 

 Scottish kingdom, and the spot in which the first 

 Scots settled on their emigrating from Ireland. There 

 are several distilleries in the town, and the trade of 

 C. consists chiefly in the export of whisky and potatoes. 

 The whisky, which is of an excellent quality, is sold 

 wholesale, principally by means of agents in Glasgow. 

 Population of burgh and parish in 1831, 9,472. 



CAMPEACHV, or CAMPECHE ; a seaport town of Mexi- 

 co, in Yucatan, in a bay to which it gives name, on 

 the west coast of the peninsula of Yucatan ; ninety 

 miles W. S. W. Merida ; Ion. 90 31' W. ; lat. 19 51' 

 N. ; population, 6,000. It is defended by a castle 

 furnished with cannon, and has several times been 

 taken from the Spaniards, and plundered. Its port 

 is large, but shallow. The houses are well built of 

 stone. The exportation of the wax of Yucatan con- 

 stitutes one of the most lucrative branches of its 

 t^de. It has a manufacture of cotton cloth. It was, 

 for a long time, the chief mart for logwood, of which 

 great quantities grew in the neighbourhood, before 

 the British landed here, and cut it at the isthmus. 

 At the time when it was taken by the Spaniards, it 

 was said to have contained 3,000 houses, and con- 

 siderable monuments of Indian art. The bay of Cam- 

 peachy lies on the southwest of the peninsula of 

 Vucatan, and on the north of the province of Ta- 

 b;usco. 



CAMPER, Peter, one of the most learned and acute 

 physicians and anatomists of the eighteenth century, 

 was born at Leyden, 1 722, and died at the Hague, 

 April 7, 1789. He distinguished himself in anatomy, 

 surgery, obstetrics, and medical jurisprudence, and 

 also as a writer on the beautiful. He drew with great 

 skill with the pen, painted in oil, modelled in wax, 

 and knew how to handle the chisel of the sculptor. 

 C. was the first who proved that the ape, of which 

 r.he ancients have left anatomical descriptions, was a 

 species of orang-outang. His essays on lithotomy, 

 &c., have spread light on these subjects. He was 

 much devoted to comparative osteology, and believed, 

 what the discoveries of Cuvier have confirmed, that 

 there have really existed animals of which the species 

 are at present extinct. His Dissertation on the Natu- 

 ral Varieties, &c., is the first work which has thrown 

 much light on the varieties of the human species, 

 which the author distinguishes by the shape of the 

 skull. His Treatise on the natural Difference of 

 Features in Persons of various Countries and Ages, 

 and on Beauty as exhibited in ancient Paintings and 

 Engravings, followed by a method of delineating va- 

 rious sorts of heads with accuracy, is intended to 

 prove that the rules laid down by the most celebrated 

 limners and painters are very defective. His general 

 doctrine is, that the difference in form and cast of 

 countenance proceeds from the facial angle (q. v.). 



In his essay on the organs of speech in apes, he proves 

 that nature has rendered the pronunciation of articu 

 late sounds impossible, even to those which approach 

 nearest to man, by lateral pouches connected with 

 the windpipe. C. wrote in four languages, and re- 

 ceived ten prizes from different academies. He re- 

 ceived his education at Leyden, and travelled, and 

 obtained the acquaintance of many of the most dis- 

 tinguished men of Europe, after which he was made 

 professor of philosophy, medicine, and surgery, in 

 Franeker. He taught the same sciences, afterwards, 

 in Amsterdam and Groningen. 



CAMPHOR is a white, resinous production, of peculiar 

 and powerful smell, not unlike that of rosemary, and 

 is extracted from two or three kinds of trees of the 

 bay tribe, that grow in the islands of the East Indies 

 and China. Of these, the principal is the laurvs 

 camphora of Linneeus. It is of considerable height, 

 much branched, and has spear-shaped leaves, with 

 nerves, of a pale-yellowish-green colour on the upper 

 side, and bluish-green beneath. The flowers are 

 small, white, and stand on stalks which issue from 

 the junction of the leaves and branches. Camphor 

 is found in every part of the trees ; in the interstices 

 of the perpendicular fibres, and in the veins of the 

 wood, in the crevices and knots, in the pith, and in 

 the roots, which afford by far the greatest abundance. 

 The method of extracting it consists in distilling with 

 water in large iron pots, which serve as the body of 

 the still, with earthen heads fitted to them, stuffed 

 with straw, and provided with receivers. Most of 

 the camphor becomes condensed in the solid form 

 among the straw, and part comes over with the water. 

 Its sublimation is performed in low, flat bottomed 

 glass vessels, placed in sand, and the camphor be- 

 comes concrete, in a pure state, against the upper 

 part, whence it is afterwards separated with a knife, 

 after breaking the glass. 



Numerous other vegetables are found to yield cam- 

 phor by distillation. Among them are thyme, rose- 

 mary, sage, elecampane, anemone, and pusatilla. A 

 smell of camphor is disengaged when the volatile oil 

 of fennel is treated with acids ; and a small quantity 

 of camphor may be obtained from oil of turpentine by 

 simple distillation, at a very gentle heat. 



Camphor has a bitterish, aromatic taste, is unctuous 

 to the touch, and possesses a degree of toughness 

 which prevents it from being pulverized with facility, 

 unless a few drops of alcohol be added, when it is 

 easily reduced to a powder. It floats on water, and 

 is exceedingly volatile, being gradually dissipated in 

 vapour if kept in open vessels. At 288 Fahrenheit, 

 it enters into fusion, and boils at 400" Fahrenheit. 

 It is insoluble in water, but is dissolved freely by 

 alcohol, from which it is immediately precipitated, in 

 milky clouds, on the addition of water. It is likewise 

 soluble in the fixed and volatile oils, and in strong 

 acetic acid. Sulphuric acid decomposes camphor,, 

 converting it into a substance like artificial tannin. 

 \Vith nitric acid, it yields a peculiar acid, called cam- 

 phoric acid. This acid combines with alkalies, and 

 forms peculiar salts, called camphorates. They have 

 not hitherto been applied to any useful purpose. 



As an internal medicine, camphor has been fre- 

 quently employed, in doses of from five to twenty 

 grains, with much advantage, to procure sleep in 

 mania, and to counteract gangrene. In large doses, 

 it acts as a poison. Dissolved in acetic acid, with 

 some essential oils, it forms the aromatic vinegar. It 

 promotes the solution of copal ; and, from the cir- 

 cumstance that its effluvia are very noxious to insects, 

 it is much used to defend subjects of natural history 

 from their ravages. 



In a cnide state, camphor is formed into irregular 

 lumps, of a yellowish-grey colour, somewhat rest in- 



