96 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



should be extended so as to include a definite 

 aldehyde content, in order to prevent adultera- 

 tion by means of artificial cinnamic aldehyde. 

 The cinnamic aldehyde content of normal oils 

 has been ascertained to range between 70 to 71,4 

 per cent whereas adulterated oils have been 

 found to contain from 77,6 to 86,4 per cent. The 

 specific gravity of normal oils moves between 

 1,012 and 1,023, in adulterated oils it ran from 

 1,027 up to 1,055. 



The observations relating to the specific gra- 

 vity of alleged authentic oils recorded in this 

 article do not agree with our own findings, which 

 are the result of records of very numerous ob- 

 servations with our own distillates. We have 

 found the specific gravity of normal Ceylon 

 cinnamon oils to vary from 1,023 to 1,040 ; lower 

 specific gravities may perhaps be due to the use 

 of defective raw material or to unreasonable 

 methods of distillation. According to our ex- 

 perience, the aldehyde content of good "Ceylon 

 cinnamon oils ranges from 05 (to 76 per cent. 

 — Schimmet & Co.'s Report. 



NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL 

 CAMPHOR. 



An Important Lecture. 



At the Congress of Applied Chemistry on Satur- 

 day Professor Haller, whose lecture on the 

 chemistry of camphor preceded the above, said 

 that the extended use of camphor dated from the 

 time when celluloid, of which it formed a consti- 

 tuent part, became the object of intensive and 

 increasing manufacture. The important part it 

 played in the industry of this plastic matonal, 

 and the special qualities which it lent to the 

 introcellulose with which it was incorporated, 

 rendered it valuable for other purposes. It was 

 used for the manufacture of pegamoid, a new 

 substitute for leather, and entered into the com- 

 position of certain smokeless powders either as 

 such or in the form of borneol. They were 

 aware that camphor was prepared by distilla- 

 tion with steam from the wood of the camphor 

 laurel, a fine tree which grew in Japan, in For- 

 mosa, where it still formed immense virgin 

 forests more and more difficult of access, in 

 various Japanese islands, and also in several 

 districts of Central China. Since 1899 Japan 

 had secured the monopoly of the camphor crop 

 throughout its territory and in Formosa. Ac- 

 cording to statistics published in a Japanese 

 journal and reproduced by the Chemist and 

 Druggist, the amount of camphor exported 

 from Japan increased from 280,892 kilos, valued 

 at 200,452f., in 1868, to 1,834,594 kilos, valued at 

 13,069,831f., in 1907; and during the same time 

 the price increased from 69f. to 708f. per 100 

 kilos. In spite of an increasing production in 

 China it appeared from the statistical evidence 

 that the aggregate 



OUTPUT OF CAMPHOR WAS NOT INCREASING, 



and that they must rather expect to see it 

 gradually diminish. And since the demand 

 on the contrary went on increasing, it was easy to 



understand the high prices reached, which had 

 driven the camphor industry to make up the defi- 

 ciency in the production of the natural substance. 



It was about 1905 that the first attempts to 

 supplement the supply by artificial camphor came 

 into view. All the processes of manufacture 

 started with pinene, a carbon compound found 

 in the essential oil of turpentine. The latter was 

 obtained by steam distillation from the rosin 

 yielded by various conifers growing iu the forests 

 of the temperature zone. The principal countries 

 of origin were, in order of importance, the 

 United States, France, Russia, the Central Euro- 

 pean States, Germany, and Austria. In recent 

 years Spain had also contributed to the world's 

 rmrkets. The French essence produced from the 

 sua- pine was considered to hold the first place in 

 respect of quality ; that of the United States, 

 from pitch pine, was less valued; and those of 

 Russia and Germany, obtained chiefly from tho 

 Pinus silvestris, were of inferior quality. The 

 question of industrial camphor depended as 

 much on the price of a good essence as on the 

 methods employed. The efforts expended on 

 the problem had resulted in no new fact or 

 original discovery. The numerous methods 

 employed were only improvements or variants 

 of reactions previously known. They might 

 bo dividod into two large groups according to 

 whether the essence was first converted into 

 hydro-chlorate of pinene, or was submitted 

 direct to the action of organic acids. The high 

 prices of camphor, to which they owed the 

 evolution of the new industry, had only been 

 temporary for reasons which it was extremely 

 difficult to discover. Only those establish- 

 ments which in the fortunate period of high 

 prices found themselves in possession of an 

 economical and thoroughly efficient process 

 and were in a position to organize a prompt 

 supply in response to the demand of the 

 moment had been able to, take advantage of 

 the remunerative prices and recover the cost 

 of installation." He should add that the cam- 

 phor which they produced, apart from its op- 

 tical inactivity, possessed in all respects the 

 same properties as natural camphor when it was 

 sufficiently refined. Comparisons had been made 

 between the camphor industry and the alizarine 

 and indigotine industries, and some enthusiastic 

 spirits had not been afraid to celebrate this new 

 triumph of industrial science. With regard to 

 the two substances mentioned, science and in- 

 dustry had incontestably got the better of nature. 

 The cultivation of madder had completely dis- 

 appeared from the departments of the Midi in 

 France and artificial indigo was on the way to 

 ruin the immense and numerous plantations of 

 India, Java and Guatemala. Would the same 

 thing happen with camphor ? It would be rash 

 to say so, for various reasons which he enume- 

 rated. The conditions were very different both 

 with regard to the supply of natural product, 

 the cultivation of which had been freshly stimu- 

 lated, and with regard to the fundamental 

 substance used in producing artificial camphor, 

 namely, the essence of turpentine, the supply of 

 which was limited and the price fluctuating. For 

 these and other reasons the future of the cam- 

 phor industry was uucertain. — London Times, 

 May 31. 



