THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
AUGUST,  1907. 
SYNTHETIC  CAMPHOR. 
By  I/.  F.  Keblkr, 
Chief  of  Drug  Laboratory. 
Requests  are  coming  to  the  Bureau  of  Chemistry  for  information 
on  synthetic  camphor,  and  inasmuch  as  it  is  difficult  to  answer  in 
detail  the  various  questions,  it  is  thought  desirable  to  publish  a  brief 
resume  on  the  subject. 
The  camphor  tree,  Cinnamonum  camphora  (L)  grows  in  various 
sections  of  the  world,  either  indigenous  (Eastern  Asia  and  Japan) 
or  introduced  (California  and  the  Gulf  States  of  the  United  States) ; 
but  so  far  the  trees  have  not  been  utilized  to  advantage  for  the  pro- 
duction of  camphor,  excepting  on  the  island  of  Formosa,  where  at 
present  nine-tenths  of  it  is  produced.  All  camphor  produced  on 
this  island  is  now  and  has  been  since  the  Japan-Chinese  war,  August 
5,  1899,  under  the  supervision  and  control  of  the  Japanese  Govern- 
ment. The  unfortunate  part  of  this  situation  was  keenly  felt  during 
the  late  Russian-Japanese  War.  During  the  course  of  this  war  the 
amount  of  camphor  placed  on  the  market  was  materially  restricted, 
probably  because  the  output  was  diminished.  Another  reason  given 
is  that  an  undue  amount  was  utilized  for  the  manufacture  of  ammu- 
nition, but  this  is  said  to  be  a  mistake.  The  celluloid  industries  of 
this  and  other  countries,  depending  on  camphor  as  one  of  the  basic 
constituents  in  the  manufacture  of  their  goods,  were  remarkably 
handicapped  because  of  the  tremendous  advance  in  the  price  of 
camphor  during  the  Russian- Japanese  War.  About  90  per  cent,  of 
all  camphor  produced  is  utilized  for  the  manufacture  of  celluloidal 
articles.  It  was  also  felt  to  some  extent  in  other  directions  ;  for 
example,  camphor  is  used  as  an  ordinary  household  remedy  for 
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