ii6 



NA TURE 



[June 4, 1896 



county institution has a claim upon the county residents. The 

 foundation and maintenance of local museums is distinctly a 

 part of the work of the local societies ; in so far as these 

 museums can be utilised for educational purposes, they have a 

 claim to support from the County Councils, and in a few cases 

 such support has actually been given. We note with satisfaction 

 that the London County Council in the estimate lor the expendi- 

 ture by its Technical Education Board for the ensuing year has 

 allocated a certain sum to "museums." The county of Essex 

 is, we believe, unique in having attached to its Technical 

 Instruction Committee a certain number of representatives of 

 the local society. Iti agricultural and maritime districts where 

 technical instruction centres round the sciences which are more 

 particularly cultivated by the local societies, there is no reason 

 why there shoidd not always be co-operation between these 

 societies and the County Councils. If such co-operation is at 

 present the exception rather than the rule, it is because the 

 local societies have not made their influence as intellectual 

 powers felt with sufficient force. Let these societies knit up 

 their scattered units, let their amateur workers be educated up 

 to the necessity for carrying on systematic instead of casual 

 observations, let them court the respect to which their labours 

 entitle them by putting forth good evidence of activity, and they 

 may play a far greater part in the scientific development of this 

 country than has hitherto fallen to their lot. R. Meldoia. 



CAMPHOR. 



/""AMPHOR is not the exclusive product of any one natural 

 ^-^ order, genus, or species ; but what is more remarkable, of 

 closely allied species of camphor-yielding genera — one species 

 possesses the secretion, while no trace of it is found in another. 

 Although several kinds of camphor are articles of commerce, 

 little, if any, reaches this country, save that obtained from 

 Cinnantomitin Laniphora {Can:phora officinaritiit)^ a member of 

 the laurel family, and of the same genus as the tree whose bark 

 furnishes the spice called cinnamon. Like many other natural 

 products of which scientific research has multiplied the applica- 

 tions, camphor is becoming dearer and scarcer, and the question 

 has arisen. How is the supply to be maintained equal to the 

 demand ? The bulk of the camphor imported into Europe comes 

 from Japan and Formosa, and comparatively little from China. 

 This is the product of Cinnamoiiium mntphora, and Dr. E. 

 tlrasmann has published ' an interesting account of this tree, 

 both from a scientific and commercial standpoint. He has rather 

 overweighted his article with second-hand information respecting 

 laurels generally and those of Japan in particular, which, as 

 might be expected, is inaccurate in some details. Disregarding 

 these, we find much that is interesting concerning the camphor- 

 tree itself, which is one of the noblest objects in the forests of 

 eastern sub-tropical Asia. It attains gigantic dimensions, sur- 

 passing all other trees of the Japanese forests, at least in girtli 

 of trunk if not in total height. Dr. Grasmann gives the recorded 

 dimensions of various notable trees, but what is more to the 

 point, he also gives measurements made by himself. A tree in 

 the neighbourhood of the town of Miyazaki, Oyodomura, 

 measured in 1S94, was i4"8o metres in circumference at 130 m. 

 from the ground, or 448 m. in diameter, and it was 35 m. high. 

 There is an illustration of this giant reproduced from a 

 photograph. Concerning the distribution of the camphor- 

 free in Japan, the author states that it grows naturally in 

 Kinshin up to about 34°lat.,and scattered in favourable situa- 

 tions some 2° farther north, the extreme limit being 36" 24'. It 

 is abundant in the island of Formosa, and al.so occurs in the 

 Tsusima and Luchu groups. On the mainland of China, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Grasmann, it inhabits the coast region from Cochin- 

 China to the mouth of the Vanglzekiang, and it may be added 

 that it is now known to extend westwards at least as far as 

 Ichang in the central province of Hupeh. From. Dr. A. Henry's 

 notes accompanying his specimens in the Kew Herbarium, it 

 appears that the wood is in great request, but no camphor is 

 extracted ; and Consul Playfair reported the same from I'akhoi, 

 Kwangtung, in 18S3. Indeed the camphor industry would seem 

 to be at present very limited in China, although the tree is 

 common and widely spread. The little that is exported is 



'Der Kampfer.lmum. Mutheilungen de 

 ir- imd Volkerkundc Ost.isiens in Tokin," 

 . 1895. 



NO. 1388, VOL. 54] 



deutschen 



,i. pp. 277- 



mostly from the province of P'okien, but the amount is increasing 

 in the same measure as the production is decreasing in Japan. 

 In the latter country something has been done to maintain the 

 supply, but Dr. Grasmann holds that the present rate of planting 

 is wholly inadequate. He urges the import.ance of increasing 

 the plantations to the greatest possible extent, inasmuch as every 

 part of the tree is useful, from the roots to the young shoots and 

 leaves. Even the fruit is employed in the preparation of tallow. 

 In Formosa camphor distilling has been carried on in the most 

 recklessly extravagant manner imaginable. It is suggested that 

 Japanese rule in the island may put a stop to such disastrous 

 waste. 



With regard to the increasing price of camphor, it has been 

 stated in various publications that this is due to its being used in 

 the manufacture of smokeless powder. In reply to inquiries on 

 this point. Sir Frederick Abel wrote to the Director of Kew in 

 November last as follows : — 



"Any increase of demand, involving a rise in the price of 

 camphor, is not due to its application as a constituent of smoke- 

 less powder. That material was used in the earliest days of the 

 manufacture of a successful smokeless powder for artillery and 

 small arms : but its employment was soon demonstrated to be 

 attended with serious practical disadvantages, and its application 

 for the purpose can therefore not be said to have been oilier 

 than experimental, and of no great importance, even at that 

 time, as aftecting the market value of camphor. This substance 

 has, however, been used extensively for many years past, and 

 no doubt in continually-increasing quantities, for the conversion 

 of collodion cotton into the material known as celluloid, which 

 is applied to the manufacture of imitation ivory, tortoiseshell, 

 horn, and a great variety of purposes." 



As Dr. Grasmann observes, the greatest enemy of the camphor- 

 tree is man, and in Japan large trees are eventually killed 

 through the felonious nocturnal grubbing of their roots. Some 

 birds are fond of the fruit and seed, and the caterpillar of 

 Fapilio sarpcdon feeds on the leaves ; but, except to young 

 plants, they cause comparatively little damage. Apart fioni the 

 wanton destruction of trees, the probability of the supply of 

 camphor being maintained is seriously diminished by the fact 

 that the tree grows but slowly in its early years. At the same 

 time it colonises freely, and is now naturalised in several coun- 

 tries, notably in Madagascar, where, according to Dr. Meller, in 

 a note accompanying a specimen in the Kew Herbarium, it 

 was abundant as long ago as 1862, and was much used for 

 building purposes. 



Next in point of importance in producing camphor is 

 Diyolhi/aiipps aromatica, a tree belonging to the Dipterocarpea;, 

 and inhabiting Borneo and Sumatra. The formula of ordinary 

 camphor is CjoH,,,© ; of Borneo camphor, CmHijO ; and the 

 latter can be artificially i)repared from the former. Borneo 

 camphor is deposited in clefts and hollows of the wood, and has 

 simply to be taken out ; but it is comparatively rare, and ex- 

 -'^^yCeedingly dear, bringing eighty limes more, according to (jras- 

 \\ fnann, than ordinary camphor. Nearly the whole production is 

 imported into China, where it is esteemed beyond the ordinary 

 camphor, and used as incense. 



'Bliiiiiea bahamifera (Conipositae), a shrubby plant exceedingly 

 common in tropical Asia, yields a kind of camphor by distillation. 

 Hainan is the principal seat of the industry, but the crude article 

 is refined at Canton, whence there is an annual export of about 

 10,000 pounds. No doubt this source of camphor could be 

 much more extensively utilised. 



Members of various other natural orders, notably the Labiat;e, 

 yield essential oils of the .same composition, and having the 

 same properties, as camphor. .Menthol is an example. 



W. B. H. 



URANIUM. 

 'T'HE introduction of the electric furnace by M. H. Moissan 

 •*■ as an instrument of research, has opened up many new 

 fields of work ; among which the preparation of those metals 

 whose oxides had been looked upon as irreducible by carbon, is 

 not the least interesting. Three years ago the metal uranium was 

 obtained in this way, and in a recent number of the CoiiipUs 

 reiidus (ViA^ iS), M. Moissan gives a more complete account 

 of the preparation and properties of this metal. The metal was 

 isolated by three methods, by the action of sodium at a red heat 

 upon the double chloride of sodium and uranium, L'Clj. 2NaCl, 



