— 24 — 



in Ceylon will be able to compete seriously with the Japanese monopoly. 

 But at the same time, the Formosan sources of camphor are not 

 inexhaustible; during the last 25 years the production has fallen off by 

 1 5 % » an d trie tree nas practically dissappeared from the safe districts. 

 Although in Ceylon the camphor distillation has not yet led to any 

 satisfactory results, the reason, according to the Government chemist 

 there, Kelway Bamber 1 ), is due to inexperience in the distillation. 

 The distillation is carried out too quickly, and the cooling done badly, 

 which naturally causes the loss of a great portion of the camphor. 

 Various distillations made in the course of last year with shoots from 

 districts situated at the various altitudes (below 2000 up to above 

 6000 feet) gave yields of 1,16 to 1,71% camphor. When the leaves 

 and the branches were distilled separately, it was found that the former 

 contained three times as much camphor as the latter. 



J. A. Battandier 2 ) reports on the camphor tree cultivation in 

 Algeria, and on Algerian camphor. Contrary to the views previously 

 held, the camphor tree grown in the Mediterranean countries contains 

 as much camphor as in the country of its origin. But in view of the 

 large fluctuations to which here as everywhere else the various in- 

 dividual specimens are subject, it would be a matter of general interest 

 to cultivate the camphor tree by selection, the more so as it grows 

 very well from seed, and can be readily multiplied by oculation. 



The present position of the camphor manufacture (natural and 

 artificial or synthetic camphor) is dealt with in a treatise by A. Hempel 3 ) 

 to which we would only refer. As in Hemp el's communication 

 A. Hesse's work on the production of artificial camphor is also men- 

 tioned, the latter feels called upon to make various corrections. With 

 regard to Hesse's reply 4 ) and Hem pel's rejoinder 5 ) we content 

 ourselves with a bare reference. 



M. Demieville, pharmaceutical chemist in Zurich, kindly called our 

 attention to a notice in the Gazette de Lausanne of October 24, 1906, 

 according to which recently in the neighbourhood of Lausanne fragments 

 had been found in sandstone of a petrified tree which is probably identical 

 with the camphor tree. The find consisted of one large and several 

 smaller pieces of a trunk, and also branches and leaves. In Rivaz, 

 in the vicinity of Lausanne, not only camphor tree leaves, but also 

 fossil leaves of the cinnamon shrub have been discovered. 



*) Journal d' Agriculture Tropicale 9 (1907), 58. 

 2 ) Journ. de Pharm. et Chim. VI. 25 (1907), 182. 

 8 ) Chem. Ztg. 31 (1907), 6. 



4 ) Ibidem, 101. 



5 ) Ibidem, 191. 



