262 
Camphor  Leaf  Oil. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1896. 
are  said  to  be  by  no  means  plentiful,  and  they  grow  only  in  certain 
favorable  situations,  as  far  as  the  climate  is  concerned,  with  savage 
tribes  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  Here  the  trees  are  not  considered 
worth  taking  until  they  are  fifty  years  old,  and  the  wood  only  of  the 
roots  and  stems  is  subjected  to  distillation. 
The  camphor  tree  grows  very  well  in  India.  The  Calcutta  Bo- 
tanic Gardens  possess  a  fine  avenue  of  trees,  which  were  introduced 
in  1802.  It  grows  well  in  the  Ootacamund  Botanical  Gardens  and 
in  other  parts  of  the  Nilgiris.  It  has  been  planted  as  an  experi- 
mental measure,  at  Jhansi,  in  the  Northwestern  Provinces,  and  in 
other  districts  in  the  plains.  Camphor  has  been  known  and  used 
in  India  for  many  centuries.  In  A.  D.  642,  Indian  princes  sent 
camphor  as  a  tribute  or  offering  to  the  Chinese  emperors.  At  one 
time  the  tree  flourished  in  Nepal  and  Tipperah,  a  large  tract  of  land 
lying  between  Bengal  and  the  Upper  Irrawaddy.  Within  the  pre- 
sent century  camphor  was  imported  from  Chittagong,  but  it  has 
been  said  that  the  discovery  by  the  hill-men  of  distilling  it  from  the 
root  led  to  the  extinction  of  the  trees. 
In  Ceylon  the  camphor  tree  grows  well  at  elevations  of  5,000  feet 
and  less;  it  has  the  habit  of  a  willow  in  the  island,  and  it  has  been 
suggested  that,  like  a  willow,  the  trees  should  be  coppiced,  and  the 
leaves  and  branches  used  for  preparing  the  oil.  The  tree  grows  for 
ornamental  purposes  in  Naples  and  other  parts  of  Italy.  Professor 
Maisch,  in  1891,  reported  on  the  cultivation  of  camphor  in  Florida, 
where  it  flourished  in  almost  any  soil.  The  solid  oil  was  made  from 
the  leaves  and  branches ;  the  yield  was  4  per  cent.,  and  the  product 
was  more  like  that  of  Japan,  as  it  had  an  odor  of  safrol.  California 
has  lately  become  the  scene  of  an  industry  which  has  for  its  objects 
the  planting  of  the  laurel  camphor  and  the  preparation  of  the  oil  for 
the  American  market.  The  tree  has  also  become  naturalized  in 
Java,  Brazil,  Jamaica,  and  other  isles  of  the  West  Indies,  Mauritius 
and  Madeira. 
It  is  very  evident  that  the  camphor  tree  is  able  to  grow  very  lux- 
uriantly and  extensively  in  the  warmer,  temperate  and  tropical 
parts  of  the  world,  far  removed  from  China  and  Japan;  but  the  slow 
growth  of  this  tree  would  prevent  all  but  large  capitalists  from  open- 
ing up  plantations  and  waiting  for  the  plants  to  sufificiently  mature. 
If  it  is  true  that  in  the  island  of  Formosa  the  wood  only  of  the 
larger  trees  is  used,  and  the  leaves  and  branches  rejected,  then  there 
