384 
The  Camphor  Trade. 
/  Am.  Jour.  Pharm  . 
(     Aug.  1,  1874. 
There  is  another  description,  which  is  highly  prized  by  the  Chinese 
for  its  supposed  medicinal  qualities,  that  is  found  in  a  solid  state  in 
the  trees  growing  upon  the  islands  of  Borneo  and  Sumatra,  and 
throughout  the  Malayan  Archipelago.    The  Arabs  were  acquainted 
with  the  properties  of  this  article,  which  they  called  kaphoor,  but  it 
does  not  apper  to  have  entered  into  the  traffic  of  the  Romans  or  the 
Greeks.    Both  kinds  appear  to  have  been  used  by  the  Hindoos  before 
the  arrival  of  the  Europeans  in  India,  and  the  prices  of  the  different 
sorts,  reduced  to  present  Indian  weights  and  moneys,  will  be  as  they 
existed  in  Malabar  and  Calicut  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century.    There  are  many  plants,  such  as  the  cinnamon  tree,  which 
supply  a  kind  of  camphor  ;  another  source  is  the  Blumea  grandisr 
one  of  the  most  abundant  weeds  throughout  the  Tenessarim  provinces* 
It  grows  six  or  eight  feet  high,  with  leaves  which,  when  bruised,  emit 
a  strong  odor  of  camphor.  There  is  also  an  imitation  in  Japan,  but  it- 
can  be  easily  distinguished  from  the  genuine.    The  camphor  tree  has 
been  successfully  cultivated  in  Europe,  and  there  is  mention  of  one 
at  Malmaison  over  twenty  feet  high  by  six  inches  in  diameter.  In 
Spain  camphor  has  been  manufactured  from  several  Labiatoe,  and  has 
been  prepared  artificially  by  passing  a  current  of  muriatic  acid  gas 
through  turpentine ;  this  variety  has  not,  however,  been  used  in 
medicine. 
The  camphor  of  commerce  is  derived  from  a  shrub  which  much  re- 
sembles the  ordinary  laurel  in  appearance,  and  several  specimens  may 
be  seen  growing  at  the  royal  gardens  of  Kew.    It  is  an  evergreen, 
and  grows  to  a  considerable  size,  and  emits  a  camphoraceous  odor 
when  bruised.  The  leaves  are  shining  and  of  a  bright  green.  The  wood 
which  is  white  and  fragrant,  is  much  prized  by  the  Chinese  for  carpen- 
try work,  since  the  scent  keeps  off  the  operations  of  white  ants  and  other 
insects.    There  are  several  methods  adopted  in  different  countries  for 
obtaining  the  crude  camphor,  viz.,  the  original  condition  in  which  it  is 
brought  to  Europe.    These  consist  chiefly  in  separating  the  root 
trunk  and  branches,  which,  being  cut  into  chips,  are  introduced  into 
a  still  with  water,  and  heat  applied,  when  the  steam  generated  car- 
ries off  the  camphor  in  vapor.  These  vapors  rise,  and,  passing  through 
rice  straw,  with  which  the  head  of  the  still  is  filled,  the  camphor  so- 
lidifies and  is  deposited  round  the  straw  in  minute  grains  or  particles, 
somewhat  about  the  size  of  coarse  sugar  or  sand,  which  by  aggrega- 
tion form  grayish  crumbling  cakes,  with  all  the  properties  of  purified 
