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HISTORY OF THE DRUG CAMPHOR. 
with each other. It is, however, perfectly distinct from either; and 
with respect to beauty, it is evident that they are founded on very 
opposite qualities—the one on smoothness, the other on roughness ; 
the one on gradual, the other on sudden, variation ; the one on ideas 
of youth and freshness, the other on that of age, and even of decay.”— 
Price. 
(To he continued .) 
MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 
\Ve extract from The Magazine of Domestic Economy (one of the 
most useful and amusing periodicals now in course of publication) a 
little history of the drug Camphor, which we consider interesting. 
“ There are two kinds of camphor — that procured from Japan, and 
that produced in Sumatra and Borneo ; the latter is called Malayan 
camphor, and is obtained from the Taurus camphorus of Linnaeus. 
Crawfurd unites with Colebrooke in giving this tree the name of Dryo- 
balanops camphor a } [probably the Cinnamomum glaucum, or the C. 
culilaban , both Japanese trees,] and adds that it is not a laurel, like 
the camphor tree of Japan. However this may be, it is an evergreen, 
equal in size to any of the huge forest-trees of the countries in which it 
grows. Its geographical boundaries are extremely limited. Borneo 
and Sumatra are the only two countries in the world in which it has 
been discovered ; and even in these islands it is not found to the south 
of the line, and to the north, not beyond the third degree of latitude. 
The tree has a handsome appearance, is much branched, and its trunk 
is clothed with a smooth greenish bark. The leaf is spear-shaped, of 
a pale yellowish green on the upper surface, and sea-green underneath. 
The flowers are insignificant, white, and growing in roundish clusters ; 
the fruit resembles that of the cinnamon tree. The wood is much 
used, as it has a strong scent of camphor, which preserves it from 
destructive insects; even the carpenter bee, w r hich penetrates the 
hardest wood in order to form its nest, does not attack the camphor 
laurel. The tree is not cultivated, and does not invariably yield cam- 
phor: the presence of the drug is known by the oil which exudes from 
the crevices in the principal branches. The oldest trees in general 
contain the largest portion. In order to obtain it, the tree is cut down, 
and the large perpendicular veins [?] in the centre of the trunk, and 
the knots of the wood, being opened, the pieces of camphor are picked 
out with a sharp instrument: the smaller ones are procured by means 
