September, 1909.] 



217 



DRUGS. 



Drugs. 



THE CAMPHOR INDUSTRY. 



(From the Indian Trade Journal, Vol. 

 XIII., No. 169, June, 24, 1909.) 



At a meeting of the Congress of 

 Applied Chemistry in London on May 

 31st, Professor Haller delivered an 

 address on the Chemistry of Camphor. 

 In the course of his remarks he said that 

 it was about 1905 that the first attempts 

 to supplement the supply by artificial 

 camphor came into view. All the pro- 

 cesses of manufacture started with 

 piuene, a carbon compound found in the 

 essential oil of turpentine. The latter 

 was obtained by steam distillation from 

 the resin yielded by various conifers 

 growing in the forests of the temperate 

 zone. The principal countries of origin 

 were, in order of importance, the United 

 States, Prance, Russia, the Central 

 European States, Germany, and Austria. 

 In recent years Spain had also contri- 

 buted to the world's markets. The 

 French essence produced from the sea 

 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 Ger- 

 many, obtained chiefly from the 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 ef- 

 forts expended on the problem had re- 

 sulted in no new fact or original 

 discovery. The numerous methods em- 

 ployed were only improvements or 

 variants of reactions previously known. 

 They might be divided into two large 

 groups according to whether the essence 

 was first converted into hydro-chlorate 

 of pineue, or was submitted direct to the 

 action of organic acids. The high prices 

 of camphor, to which they owed the evolu- 

 tion of the new industry, had only been 

 temporary for reasons which it was ex- 

 tremely difficult to discover. Only those 

 establishments, which in the fortunate 

 period of high prices found themselves 

 in possession of an economical and tho- 

 roughly 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 

 camphor which they produced, apart 

 from its optical 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 



28 



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 

 industry had incontestably got the 

 better of nature. The cultivation of 

 madder had completely disappeared 

 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 Guate- 

 mala. Would the same thing happen 

 with camphor ? It would be rash to say 

 so, for various reasons which he enu- 

 merated. The conditions were very 

 different both with regard to the supply 

 of the natural product, the cultivation 

 of which had been freshly stimulated, 

 and with regard to the fundamental 

 substance used in producing artificial 

 camphor — namely, the essence of turpen- 

 tine, the supply of which was limited 

 and the price fluctuating. For these 

 and other reasons the future of the 

 camphor industry was uncertain. 



PAPAYA JUICE.* 



(From the Philippine Agricultural 

 Revieiv, Vol, II., No 3, April, 1909.) 



Papaya juice is extracted from the 

 fruit of the papaya tree, which grows 

 rapidly, attaining its full bearing capa- 

 city in a year. It produces from 40 to 

 50 papaws of a dark green colour, ripen- 

 ing to a deep yellow, in shape resembling 

 a squash. A very light superficial inci- 

 sion is made in the fruit, and a clear 

 water-like juice exudes therefrom, 

 which becomes opaque on exposure to 

 the air. As it drips from the fruit it is 

 received in a porcelain-lined receptacle. 

 As it is very corrosive, metal receptacles 

 would injure its appearance and quali- 

 ties. It possesses great digestive vir- 

 tues, and the refined article is con- 

 sidered superior to all acimal pepsins. 



After the desired quantity has been 

 collected, the juice is placed in shallow 

 porcelain or glass-lined pans and allowed 

 to evaporate. While this is not a very 

 delicate or difficult operation, it requires 

 considerable attention, so that the juice 

 will dry uniformly and the product be 

 white and well granulated. In its 

 granulated state it is shipped to the 

 United States where it undergoes a re- 

 fining process, and is sold as the papaw 

 of commerce for medicinal purposes. 



* Extract from Annual Report of United States 

 Consul, A, J. Lespinasse, Tuxpam, Mexico. 



