CIXCnOXA — QriXI2s'E. 



635 



tenth of the trees is it found. Earns camphor is getting scarce, 

 as the tree must be destroyed before it is ascertained whether it 

 is productive or not. About 800 piculs aie annually sent to 

 China. The proportion between Malay and Chinese camphor is 

 as eighteen to one ; the former is more fragrant and not so pun- 

 gent as the latter. 



^^ine hundred and eighty-three tubs of camphor were exported 

 from Java in 1S43 ; 025 bales were imported in 1843, the produce 

 of the Japanese empire ; and 559 piculs exported from Canton 

 in 1844. 



The price of unrefined camphor in the Liverpool market in 

 July, 1853, was £4 to £4 lOs. the cwt. There have been no im- 

 ports there direct in the last two years. 



Camphor (says Dr. TJre) is found in a great many plants and is secreted in 

 purity by several laurels; it occurs combined 'vritb. the essential oils of many 

 of the labiarce ; but it is extracted for manufacturing purposes only from the 

 La-dus Camphora, which abounds in China and Japan, as well as from a tree 

 which grows in Sumatra and Borneo, called in the country kapur bams, from 

 the name of tl.e place where it is most common. The camphor exists, ready 

 lormed, in these vegetables between the wood and the bark ; but it does not 

 exuda spontaneously. On cleaving the tree Laurus Suniatrensis (Q,j. Bryoba- 

 lanops Cxmphora J, masses of camphor are found in the { ith. The wood of the 

 LaiuHis is cut into small pieces and put, with plmty of water, into large iron 

 boilers, which are covered with an earthen capital or dome, lined within with 

 rice straw. As the water buili, the camphor rises with the steam, and attaches 

 itself as a sublimate to the stalks, under the form of granulations of a grey 

 color. In this state it is picked off the straw and packed up for exportation to 

 Europe."— ("Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures.") 



The price of camphor at Canton in July, 1850, was from 

 fourtetn to fifteen dolhirs per picul. 



Cinchona. — Peruvian or Jesuit's Bark — One of tlie most valu- 

 able and powerful astringents and tonics used in mediciue, is the 

 produce of several species of cinchona, natives of the Andes, 

 from ]1 north latitiids to 20 touth latitude, at elevations varying 

 from 1,200 to 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, and in a dry 

 rocky soil. There are at least twelve trees which are supposed 

 to furnish the barks of commerce, and great obscurity prevails as 

 to the species whence the various kinds of cinchona bark are 

 derived. The names of yellow, red, and pale bark have been very 

 vaguely applied, and are by no means vrtll defined. Dr. Lindley 

 mentions twenty-six varieties; of which tvveuty-one are well 

 known. The barks are met ^ ith either in thick, large, flat pieces, 

 or in thinner pieces, which curl inwards during drying, and are 

 called quilled. 



Quinine is one of the most important of the vegetable alkaline 

 bitters. It was first discovered by A'auquelin, in 1811, and its 

 preparation on a large scale pointed out by Pelletier and Caventon 

 in 1820. It is obtained by boiling the yellow bark {Cincliona) 

 in water and sulphuric acid, and then treating it with lime and 

 alcohol, when the quinine is precipitated in the form of a white 

 powder. Upwards of 120,000 ounces are made annually in Paris. 



