Am.  jour.  Pharm.  > 
Aug.,  1885.  I 
Natural  Camphor  Oils. 
407 
which  we  in  this  country  were  familiar  until  lately.  Mr.  Hohiies  has 
favored  me  with  a  portion  of  specimen  (451  e,  Catalogue  of  the  Phar- 
maceutical Society's  Museum)  which  came  from  Formosa,  per  ship 
Nestor.  This  has  a  specific  gravity  of  0*943,  and  becomes  gelatinous, 
from  separation  of  camphor,  when  frozen.  The  color  of  this  oil  is 
golden  yellow.  If  a  drop  of  it  be  rubbed  on  the  back  of  the  hand  a 
strong  camphor  odor  is  first  felt,  and  when  the  camphor  dissipates,  a 
sassafras  odor  remains.  The  oil  quickly  dries  upon  the  skin  and  leaves 
no  mark.  This  oil  may  be  taken  as  a  satnrated  oleaceous  solution  of 
camphor.  No  satisfactory  chemical  examination  of  it  has  yet  been 
made,  the  results  of  earlier  chemists,  such  as  Martins  and  Pelouze, 
being  somewhat  conflicting  and  indefinite. 
Japanese  camphor  oil  appears  to  have  been  brought  to  this  country 
only  recently.  A  specimen  was  presented  to  the  Pharmaceutical 
Society  towards  the  end  of  last  year.  Mr.  Braithwaite,  in  a  paper 
communicated  to  the  London  Chemists'  Assistants'  Association,  says  of 
it :  ^'  It  is  the  essential  oil  obtained  as  a  bye-product  in  preparation 
of  camphor  from  Laurus  camphora  (sic).  It  consists  of  a  saturated 
solution  of  camphor  in  one  or  more  hydrocarbons  of  the  terpene  group. 
.  .  .  The  odor  is  peculiar,  resembling  a  mixture  of  camphor  and 
sassafras.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  crude  oil  from  Japan  smells  much 
more  strongly  of  this  oil  than  that  from  Formosa."^ 
The  specific  gravity  of  this  oil  is  0*951,  somewhat  greater,  therefore, 
than  that  of  the  Formosa  oil,  yet  it  is  a  thinner  oil.  The  color  is 
similar.  The  odor  of  camphor  is  feeble,  indeed,  if  one  could  disasso- 
ciate from  it  the  idea  of  camphor,  I  question  if  it  could  be  perceived ; 
but  the  sassafras  odor  is  very  })owerful.  The  feeble  camphor  odor  is 
explained  in  what  follows,  and  is  due  to  the  absence  of  camphor,  for 
there  is  no  separation  of  camphor  when  the  oil  is  chilled,  as  we  would 
expect  were  it,  like  the  Formosa  oil,  a  saturated  solution  of  camphor 
or  crude  oil,  as  Mr.  Braithwaite  states.  The  specific  gravity  of  the  oil 
is  almost  the  same  as  that  of  crude  oil,  yet  when  camphor  is  removed 
from  crude  oil  it  becomes  lighter.  In  the  '""'Chemical  News"  for 
December  12,  1884,  there  is  an  interesting  paper  by  Mr.  H.  Oishi, 
which  throws  some  light  on  the  apparent  anomaly.  This  paper  con- 
tains an  account  of  the  method  followed  in  Japan  for  the  sublimation 
of  camphor  from  the  wood,  and  also  that  for  the  separation  of  camphor 
from  the  crude  oil,  which  was  devised  three  years  ago.    Briefly  stated, 
1  "  Chemist  and  Druggist,"  1885,  p.  20. 
