AMERICAN HOLLY. 
87 
now extensively practised in the laboratories of Paris.* We are informed, 
in general, that the distillation is effected without water in glass retorts, 
with the addition of one-sixteenth part of quick lime. 
The Camphor thus refined is a whitish, transparent resin, highly volatile 
and inflammable, and of a very penetrating odor. It is so light that it 
floats upon water, and so inflammable that it may be entirely consumed 
upon the surface of that fluid. 
Camphor is regarded as one of the most powerful remedies in the art of 
medicine : it is sedative, antiseptic, and diaphoretic ; but it is considered as 
injurious in inflammatory complaints : the ablest physicians unite sulphate of 
potash or nitre with it as a corrective. 
From its powerful antiseptic properties, it is frequently employed in the 
preservation of animal substances, and always forms a part of the compos- 
ition destined to secure the skins of birds and quadrupeds from decay, in 
collections of natural history. 
Another tree, which is also natural to the East Indies, and which, accor- 
ding to M. Corea de Serra, has a great affinity to the Shorea robusta of Dr. 
Roxburg, furnishes Camphor of an excellent quality. This substance is 
obtained likewise from certain plants of the class of Labiœ, such as Laven- 
der and Mint, but not in sufficient quantities to form an article of commerce. 
PLATE LXXXIII. 
A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size. Fig . 1 , Flowers. 
AMERICAN HOLLY- 
Dicecia tetrandria. Linn. Rhamnoidæ. Juss. 
Ilex opaca. J. foliis ovalibus, rigidè patulèque dentato-spinosis ; fructibus 
ovoideis , rubris. 
Among the Hollies of North America, I shall confine myself to the 
* [And of the United States.] 
