CAM 



CAM 



the mountains a cord, with bits of wool 

 attached to it at small distances, and 

 waving 1 in the wind, which, by the terror 

 or fascination it excites, confines them as 

 effectually as bars of iron. 



CAMERA obscura, in optics, a ma- 

 chine representing an artificial eye, 

 wherein the images of external objects 

 are exhibited distinctly, in their native 

 colours, either invertedly or erect. See 

 OPTICS. 



CAMERARIA, in botany, a genus of 

 the Pentandria Monogyia class and or- 

 der. Natural order of Contorts. Apo- 

 cineae, Jussieu. Essential character : con- 

 torted; follicles two, horizontal; seeds 

 inserted into their proper membrane. 

 There are two species, of which C. lati- 

 folia, bastard mangeneel, is an elegant 

 tree, about thirty feet in height, abound- 

 ing with an acrid milky juice ; flowers 

 small and white ; follicles brown, bivalve 

 in their structure, but not opening. Na- 

 tive of Cuba, Jamaica, and Domingo. 



CAMP, the ground upon which an ar- 

 my pitch their tents. It is marked out by 

 the quarter-master-general, who appoints 

 every regiment their ground. 



CAMPAIGN, in the art of war, de- 

 notes the space of time that an army 

 keeps the field, or is encamped, in oppo- 

 sition to quarters. 



CAMPANACEJE, in botany, bell-shap- 

 ed flowers. The name of the twenty- 

 ninth order in Linmeus's "Fragments of 

 a Natural Method." There are two sec- 

 tions : 1. bell-shaped flowers, with dis- 

 tinct anthers or summits : 2. bell-shaped 

 flowers, with anthers united into a cylin- 

 der. The plants of this order are gene- 

 rally herbaceous and perennial. Some of 

 the bell-flowers and bind-weeds are an- 

 nual ; and a few foreign species of the 

 latter have woody stalks. 



CAMPANULA, in botany, a genus of 

 the Pentandria Monogynia class and or- 

 der. Natural order of Campanacesc. 

 Campanulacex, Jussieu. Essential cha- 

 racter: corolla bell-form, the bottom 

 closed with staminiferous valves ; stigma 

 three-cleft ; capsule inferior, gaping, with 

 .lateral pores. There are seventy-eight 

 species, most of them natives of our own 

 country, well known in the gardens and 

 fields. 



CAMPANULACEJE, in botany, the 

 fourth orderjof the ninth class of Jussieu's 

 natural orders, so called from their affi- 

 nity to the genus Campanula. Jussieu 

 gives them the following character : ca- 

 lyx superior, border divided ; corolla in- 

 serted on the upper part of the calyx. 



border divided ; stamens inserted under 

 the corolla; anthers either distinct or 

 united ; germ glandular above ; style 

 one ; stigma either simple or divided ; 

 capsule most commonly five-celled, often 

 many seeded, and generally opening at 

 its sides; seeds fixed to the interior an- 

 gle of the cells; stems generally herba- 

 ceous ; leaves most frequently alternate ; 

 flowers distinct, or in a few instances ag- 

 gregate, and enclosed in a common calyx. 



CAMPHOR is a principle of vegeta- 

 bles, which, in many of its properties, re- 

 sembles the volatile oils. Like them, it 

 is odorous, pungent, volatile, inflamma- 

 ble, sparingly soluble in water, and abun- 

 dantly soluble in alcohol. It differs from 

 them principally in its concrete form, in 

 its peculiar odour, in its relation to the 

 acids and alkalies, and the results of its 

 decomposition by heat. Camphor is a 

 principle contained in many vegetables, 

 especially the aromatic plants, and even 

 those of our own country, as pepper- 

 mint, rosemary, marjoram, and others ; 

 it appears to be volatilized in combina- 

 tion with their essential oil in the pro- 

 cess of distillation, and, when these are 

 long kept, is deposited in a crystalline 

 form. 



The camphor of commerce is procur- 

 ed, however, from a particular plant, the 

 laurus camphora* a native of the east of 

 Asia. It exists ready formed in the wood 

 of this tree, can be seen interspersed 

 through it in vesicles, and can be picked 

 out. It then forms what has been named 

 native camphor. It is usually procured, 

 however, by the process of sublimation. 

 The wood of the stem and branches, cut 

 into small billets, is exposed with a little 

 water to a moderate heat, in a kind of 

 alembic, to the head of which is adapted 

 a capital, in which straw is put. The cam- 

 phor is volatilized, and attaches itself to 

 the straw. It is a little impure, but is pu- 

 rified in Europe by a second sublimation. 

 The camphor of commerce, from its mode 

 of preparation, is in the form of large se- 

 mi-spherical cakes : when broken, it ap- 

 pears in fragments of a texture somewhat 

 striated, having a degree of ductility, in 

 consequence of which it can be com- 

 pressed, and is not easily reduced to 

 powder; of a white colour, and semi- 

 transparent : a little unctuous to the 

 feel ; having a very strong, peculiar, and 

 rather fragrant odour, and a taste which 

 is pungent and bitter, it is also suscep- 

 tible of crystallization: when slowly sub- 

 limed, or when slowly precipitated from 

 its solution in water bv the affusion of ak 



