1 67 



zinc-lined and the dry camphor can be removed, carefully packed 

 in zinc-lined cases for despatch. 



By reducing the camphor oil to a low temperature fully 50 to 60 

 per cent, of solid camphor separates out, and can be removed with 

 a cloth strainer and well drained, the temperature being kept as 

 low as possible while the excess of oil is draining away. 



Should any of the camphor be accidentally discoloured, it should 

 be thrown back into the still with a subsequent charge of prunings 

 for re-distillation. 



The question of purification by sublimation, re-distillation of 

 the oil for the production of safrol, white oil, and other products 

 will be fully gone into in the circular previously referred to, and 

 need not to be discussed here. The chief uses of camphor are for 

 the manufacture of celluloid, smokeless explosives, fireworks, etc., 

 and medicinally in the treatment of influenza, dysentery and cholera. 

 For the latter disease, it was used most successfully in Naples in 

 1854, all the cases treated recovering, and it was employed with 

 equal success in Liverpool in 1866. Any outbreak of influenza 

 increases consumption at once, but the chief demand is for the 

 manufacture of smokeless powders and celluloids ; it is also said to 

 be employed in one of the numerous rubber substitutes now manu- 

 factured. 



The price of Camphor; and the world's Consumption. 



In 1895 tne price of camphor was £8 to £g per case of one cwt, 

 but during the Chino-Japanese war it reached £20 per cwt., the 

 price at which it apparently stands to-day. This high price may 

 be due to a temporary shortage or to a corner in camphor, and it 

 would be risky to base any estimates on the present inflated prices. 



The total world's consumption probably does not exceed 6,000,000 

 to 1,000,000 lbs., which amount can be produced by Japan and 

 Formosa, though possibly it is becoming more and more difficult in 

 the former country from partial destruction of the trees, and in the 

 latter owing to the dangers of collection. 



Taking a medium estimate of what can be obtained in Ceylon, the 

 1 planting up of 15,000 to 20,000 acres would supply the above amount, 

 so that the price would rapidly fall and the cultivation grow more or 

 less unremunerative, although the trees would always be a valuable 

 asset in the case of a sudden demand, and would yearly increase in 

 value. 



It was also stated in 1903 that a limited Company had been 

 formed in New York for the production of camphor by synthesis 

 with a share capital of $1,000,000 and with plant for an annual 

 output of 2,000,000 lbs., the annual amount required by the United 

 States. The crude material employed in the manufacture is tur- 

 pentine oil, and the yield is said to be 98 lbs. of camphor from 

 one barrel (? 36 gallons) of the oil. At the figures quoted, the cost 

 of production might be anything from lod. to is. /\d. per lb., while 

 the cost of production in Ceylon would be considerably below this. 

 The leading camphor consuming countries are : — 



