218 DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



ference of 50 feet. There are about 50 species of this genus, but they do 

 not all yield camphor. 



Geographif. — The camphor-tree is found native in the edge and fringes of 

 the tropic of Cancer. It is found in China, Japan, Borneo, and the island of 

 Formosa. It also grows in regions of light frost, having been planted in 

 southern Europe and in California. 



Etymology. — Cinnamomuin is derived from the Arabic word kinamon, cinna- 

 mon. Camphora is of Eastern origin ; the signification is obscure, but it is 

 supposed to mean " white," in allusion to the color of the gum. 



History. — Camphor is a concrete volatile oil, obtained by distilling the 

 wood with water. It yields to the chemist CioHigO, melts at 347° Fahren- 

 heit, and boils at 400° ; it is soluble in alcohol, and slightly so in water. It 

 is purified by sublimation. 



Camphor was not known to the ancients, and it is believed that it was car- 

 ried into Europe by the Arabs in the sixth century, and by them introduced 

 into the materia medica. The camphor of commerce is exported from the 

 island of Formosa and Japan. 



Preparation. — The mode of procuring camphor is to cut down the tree and 

 reduce the trunk to fragments, and place the chips in a large still, the head 

 of which is filled with rice-straw, the bottom of the still being filled with 

 water. In the vaporization the camphor passes to the liead of the still and 

 crystallizes on the straw ; it is picked from the straw, placed in packages, and 

 sent to market. It is afterwards purified by sublimation in glass flasks, when 

 the impurities are left at the bottom. In America the process is somewhat 

 different. The gum is condensed in flat iron pans about sixteen inches square 

 and one inch deep. 



Use. — Camphor oil, obtained by draining the crystals in large vats before 

 removing them from the straw and sticks that are taken from the heads of 

 the stills, is used for medicine by the natives of Formosa. 



The medicinal properties of the gum are stimulant, diaphoretic, anodyne, 

 and narcotic. It is used to quiet restlessness, as a carminative, and a remedy 

 in typhoid ailments. 



It is dissolved in alcohol and in oil, and used as a liniment, and is an im- 

 portant medicine in domestic practice. It is poisonous and very inflammable. 

 It is an insecticide, and used to preserve woollen and fur goods from the rav- 

 ages of moths ; also in herbariums, to prevent the destruction of dried plants 

 by insects. 



Note. — The Blumea balsamifera, an herbaceous plant of the order Com- 

 positae, found in China, yields to distillation a camphor which is heavier 

 than water, and more volatile than the ordinary camphor of commerce ; it is 

 used by the Chinese in medicine and to perfume the celebrated India ink. 



The Borneo camphor is obtained from Dryobalanops Camphora, Colebr. 

 This tree is a most magnificent object. The trunk rises to the heiglit of 130 

 feet without a branch, the base is fortified Avith gigantic buttresses, and the 

 top crowned with a cluster of branches clothed with large, shining leaves. 

 Flowers showy, abundant, and fragrant. The camplior is obtained by felling 

 the tree, cutting it into lengths, and then splitting it up, when tlie gum is 

 exposed in layers in the wood, from which it is detached by means of a sharp- 

 ened stick. The camphor is so pure as to need no process of refining, and is 

 the precious camphor of the East, used in religious ceremonies and funeral 

 rites. 



