Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1896. 
Camphor  Leaf  Oil. 
263 
can  hardly  be  a  scarcity  of  the  trees,  or  the  manufacture  must  be 
conducted  in  a  very  reckless  and  extravagant  manner.  The  cam- 
phor from  the  Dryobalanops  tree  is  said  to  be  quite  liquid  if  a 
young  tree  is  tapped,  and  solid  if  the  tree  is  old.  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances it  would  seem  that  the  liquid  oil  constituted  the  first 
stage  in  the  development  of  the  solid  substance.  It  is  stated  in 
some  text-books  on  materia  medica  that  the  stearopten  exists  in 
every  part  of  the  plant,  including  the  leaves.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  remarkable  that  the  leaves  are  not  used  in  China  and  Japan ; 
perhaps  the  natives  have  found  that  the  leaves  only  give  a  liquid 
product  which  cannot  be  profitably  turned  into  camphor.  As  there 
is  no  definite  information  on  this  point  to  be  found  in  any  descrip- 
tion of  the  industry,  I  thought  it  would  be  interesting  to  try  the 
effect  of  distilling  the  leaves.  Another  reason  that  encouraged  me 
to  make  some  experiments  in  this  direction,  was  the  hearty  manner 
in  which  some  energetic  planters  of  Ceylon  have  taken  up  the  cam- 
phor question. 
A  large  number  of  experiments  have  been  made,  and  a  great 
deal  has  been  written  with  regard  to  camphor  oil,  the  by-product 
obtained  in  refining  crude  camphor  before  it  is  formed  into  blocks. 
This  has  been  proved  to  be  a  very  variable  liquid,  with  a  specific 
gravity  ranging  from  0-88  to  1*00,  an  erratic  optical  rotation,  al- 
though usually  to  the  right,  and  containing  camphor  in  suspension, 
or  in  solution,  or  none  at  all. 
The  first  sample  of  leaves  came  from  an  umbrageous  tree  growing 
in  the  Government  Gardens  at  Ootacamund.  Fifty  pounds  of  the 
leaves  in  a  fresh  state  were  distilled  in  a  large  copper  still  with  suffi- 
cient water  for  six  hours.  Eight  fluid  ounces  of  oil  were  separated 
from  the  distillate,  giving  the  yield  of  essential  oil  I  per  cent.  The 
oil  had  a  slightly  yellow  color,  a  specific  gravity  at  150  C.  of  0-9322, 
and  a  rotation  of  -f-  g°-4  in  a  2-decimetre  tube.  It  gave  off  a  small 
quantity  of  liquid  at  1600,  and  began  to  boil  regularly  at  1750. 
Collected  below  1800  20 '6 
"     1850  310 
"     1900  I5"5 
"     1950  io-6 
"  "     2000  5-6 
"     2050  3'3 
Residue     8 '6 
95*2 
