264 
Camphor  Leaf  Oil. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1896. 
The  loss  here  was  occasioned  by  some  of  the  camphor  congealing 
in  the  condenser ;  the  amount,  however,  in  this  sample  could  only 
be  about  10  or  15  percent.  The  residue  in  the  retort  was  quite 
solid  in  the  cold,  and  had  a  yellowish  color  and  strong  camphor- 
aceous  odor. 
The  second  sample  was  obtained  from  some  younger  trees  grown 
at  Naduvatam,  on  the  Nilgiris,  a  district  more  than  1,000  feet  lower 
than  Ootacamund.  The  leaves  were  distilled  in  the  same  manner 
as  in  the  previous  experiment,  but  a  large  quantity  of  camphor  con- 
densed during  the  process  and  almost  choked  up  the  worm  of  the 
still.  About  4  ounces  of  liquid  were  collected,  having  a  mass  of 
crystalline  matter  suspended  in  it.  The  oil  was  strained  through 
cloth,  and  the  solid  matter,  pressed  hard  to  remove  all  the  liquid 
portion,  was  left  as  a  cake  of  camphor,  weighing  2  ounces.  The 
clear  oil  had  a  specific  gravity  of  0  93 14  at  150  C,  and  twisted  a  ray 
of  polarized  light  -|-  540  in  a  2-decimetre  tube.  It  began  to  boil 
regularly  at  1650. 
Collected  below  1850   13*3 
"      "  •  1900  .  -\ ;'v -.  .       :  .    .  . 
"  1950   15-5 
"              "      2O0°   20'0 
Residue   25*0 
93*8 
The  loss  was  again  accounted  for  by  some  of  the  camphor  con- 
densing in  the  cool  tube.  About  one-half  of  this  oil  consisted  of 
solid  camphor,  or,  calculating  the  camphor  already  separated,  the 
oil  from  the  Naduvatam  leaves  contained  75  per  cent.,  which  is  a 
very  satisfactory  result.  The  camphor,  dissolved  in  rectified  spirit, 
twisted  a  ray  of  light  -f-  300.  The  altitude  of  the  Government  Gar- 
dens in  Ootacamund  is  7,300  feet,  and  it  is  possible  that  this  eleva- 
tion influences  the  formation  of  the  solid  stearopten  in  the  leaves. 
At  any  rate,  it  is  interesting  to  know  that  a  large  proportion  of 
camphor  can  be  obtained  from  the  oil  of  the  leaves  themselves,  and, 
probably,  if  taken  from  trees  grown  at  a  much  lower  elevation,  a 
much  larger  proportion  of  this  useful  substance  could  be  col- 
lected. 
