CAM 
by its evaporation it excites S fenfe of cold air, what re¬ 
mains is a fer.fe of heat in the mouth and fauces. When 
taken d,own upon the ftoniach, it often gives pain and un- 
eafiivf s, which is imputed to the operation of the acrimony 
upon the tipper orifice. When applied to any ulcerated 
part, it perceptibly irritates and inflames ; thefe are marks 
of its ftimulant power. When thrown into the ftoniach 
of brute animals, it operates by a fmall portion of its ef¬ 
fluvia ; for when amafs of any bulk has lieen throw n in,, 
though it lias produced confiderable eHefts on the body, 
neither the bulk n r weight are found fenfibly diminifhed ; 
lienee he concludes the operation has been upon the nerves 
of the ftomach, and by thefe on the reft of the fyftem, and 
the operation to be entirely that of a fedative power. How¬ 
ever, the hidden death of many animals occafidned by it, 
as experimentally proved, (hew ftill more evidently its fe¬ 
dative elfefts on the fen form nr, which defiroysthe mobility 
of the nervous power, and thereby extinguifties the vita! 
principle. It can no other way be accounted for; for 
camphor firft operates by inducing flupor and fleep, and 
the other fymptoms of •'delirium. -Furor and convulsions- 
can all be explained by the ftruggle which occurs between 
the force of the fedative power and the re-aftion of the 
fyftem, as in cafes of other poifons. It evidently (hews 
r.o ftimulant power on the fangniferous fyftem ; for the 
pulfe, where lias it been obferved, has been flower than 
before its effefts took place, by ten ftrokes in a minute. 
With regard to the difeafes in which it is employed, we 
find it has often been given with advantage in fevers of 
all kinds, particularly nervous fevers, attended with watch- 
fulnefs and delirium. Wherlhoff adminiftered it in many 
inflammatory difeafes with great benefit, and confiders' it 
as a refrigerant. It has been remarkable in putrid fevers 
from itsantifeptic powers ; and Collin has found it effica¬ 
cious in curing and refilling gangrene. Front its life in 
low and malignant fevers, and from its antifeptic powers, 
it is highly probable that it has been of great fervice in the 
confluent fmall-pox, and alfo in favouring the eruption of 
exanthemata, and bringing them back to tlie fkin, when 
from any caufe they have fuddenly receded ; but this he 
fays, not from experience. 
In-chronic cafes, whenever difeafes depend upon a mo¬ 
bility of the nervous power, and an irregularity of its mo¬ 
tions, it may be exp.efted fuch a powerful fedative fliotild 
be of feryice ; hence its ufe in hyfteric and hypochondriac 
cafes. In convulfiv.e and fpafmodic affections, and even 
in epilepfv, it hath proved ufeful; which laft has been 
cured by this medicine alone ; but it has been Angularly, 
beneficial when united with cuprum ammoniacum, w hite 
vitriol, or calx of zinc. It has often been fuccefsfully. 
employed in cafes of maniacal and melancholic cafes, and 
in acute rheuinatifm; and Dr. Cullen fays, lie has no 
doubt of camphor having a peculiar power in taking off 
the inflammatory (fate in 'cafes both of rheumatifm and 
gout; but as camphor is ready to occufion a tranflation 
from external application, as proved in a cafe recited by 
him, it will in gouty caffes be always employed with great 
danger. It is often found ufeful in relieving tooth-ach, 
and may be in ophthalmia, from its power of taking off 
local inflammation. When united with other fubftances, 
it lias been found peculiarly ufeful; with draftic purges, 
it is faid to moderate their acrimony, and prevent their 
violent operation : it has the power of correcting the acri¬ 
mony of cantharides : it moderates the action of mercury, 
and at the fame time does not deprive the faline mercurials 
of much of their deobftruent virtue: united'witli opium, 
it prevents the inconyeniencies and diforders which happen 
in taking opium alone ; and joined with the Peruvian bark, 
gives it more energy and force, whether in curing fever or 
gangrene, it ftiowTd either be given in large, dofes, not 
under twenty grains, or if in (mailer they muff be repeated 
in fhort intervals, if any fenfifcle effefts are to be obtained 
from it. It may be divided and rubbed with nitre or 
■fugar, and a few drops of fpirit of wine, or mucilage of 
gum arabic, the camphor previoufly diffolved in a. Utile 
C. A Ai 667 
fpirit of wine, or exprefled oil.' Camphor, mixed with 
equal quantity of myrrh, makes an uniform folution in 
aqueous fluids, and is the befit mode of" giving camphor in 
-a liquid form, where myrrh may not be thought an im¬ 
proper combination with refpeft to the intent which is 
wififed to be produced. An imprudent^dofe’of camphor, 
produces coldnefs of the extremities, vertigo, a fmall 
weak pulfe, drowfinefs, uneaftnefs about the precordia, ,&c. 
but thefe effefts are relieved by an emetic, follow ea with 
fmall dofes of vinegar, or other vegetable acids. 
CAMPHORA' I'A,yi in botany. See Camphorosma, 
Hernia ria, Polvcnemum, and SeCago. 
CAM'PHORATE, adj. [from camphora, Lat.l Im¬ 
pregnated with camphire.—By (baking the faline and cam¬ 
phor ate liquors together, we eafily confound them into one 
high-coloured liquor. Boyle. 
C AMPHOROS'MA,/] [from camphora , and oo-p.i;, odor; 
fmellingof camphor.] in botany, a genus of the clats 
tetrandria, order monogynia, natural order-of holoracece, 
The generic charafters are—Calyx : perianthium pitcher- 
fnaped, half-four-cleft, compreffed, permanent ; fegments 
acute, the oppofite ones larg-ifti, recurved. Corolla : none. 
Stamina: filaments four, filiform, equal; anrherae oval. 
Piftillum : germ ovate, compretfed ; fiyle filiform, half- 
two-cleft, longer than the calyx ; ftigmas acute. Peri- 
carpium: capfule one-celled, gaping above, covered by 
the calyx. Seed : (ingle, oval, compvefled, fhining.—. 
EJfential CharaEier. Calyx pitcher-form, tw'o of the teeth 
oppofite, and the alternate ones very fmall ;, corolla none, 
capfule one-feeded. 
Species. 1. Camphorofma monfpel.iaca, or hairy cam- 
phorofma : leaves hirfute. This is an annual plant with 
trailing branches, extending a foot or.more in length ; 
leaves linear, hairy, placed clofe on the branches T the 
flowers are produced from the joints, and are fo fmall as 
to be fearcely perceptible. Native of the fouth of France,. 
Spain, the county of Nice, See. Ray obferved it about 
Montpellier, Avignon, &c. It was cultivated in 1739 by 
Mr. Miller. The whole plant fmells of camphor. It 
abounds in a volatile oily fait, and is warm and ftiniulating. 
An infufion of it is of fervice in the afithma. The dole 
from half an ounce to an ounce and half. 
2. Camphorofma acuta, or (harp-leaved camphorofma; 
leaves fubulate, rigid, fmooth. Root perennial, (lender, 
fufiform, fibrous ; items many, woody, decumbent, round, 
hairy, roughifh, from a finger’s length to a foot in height; 
leaves five lines long, and hardly a quarter of aline broad,, 
bright or yellowifh green, pubefeent, foft; there are ufu- 
ally two fmallerones by the fide of thefe, a line in length. 
Two fmall flowers, half a line in length and breadth, are- 
feffile in each axilla. Grows in very dry fandy fields, flow¬ 
ering in July and Auguft. Native of the Palatinate, I-taly, 
and Tartary. 
3. Camphorofma glabra, or fmooth camphorofma: 
leaves fubtriquetrous, fmooth, unarmed. This is a pe¬ 
rennial plant, with trailing branches. The Sowers are 
not more vifible than thofe of the firft fort. 
4. Camphorofma pteranthus: very branching; pedun¬ 
cles enfiform, dilated; braftes crefted. Root annual, 
fibrous; Item herbaceous,'jointed, a palm high. Native 
of Arabia, Egypt, and Barbary. M. l’Heritier has con- 
ftituted a new genus from this plant, under the name of 
louichea, from his friend Rene Louiche Desfontaines, M. D. 
profefl'or of botany, member of the academy of f'ciences at 
Paris, he having fent the feeds from Barbary to I'Heritier, 
in whole; garden it flowered, and perfefted feeds. It is 
lingular in its manner of flowering, and its fruit refembling 
a flag’s horns. 
5. Camphorofma paleacea : flmibby, branches fpike- 
form, ehnffv, hairy. A flvrub fearcely a foot high, deter- 
minately-branched. 
Propagation and Culture. Thefe plants are preferred ip. 
gardens merely for the fake of variety. They are propa¬ 
gated by feeds, which faceted bed wlfen fowrt in the au¬ 
tumn. The ,European forts require only to be thinned",. 
