A  m.  Jour,  Pharm.  \  F/Jifnr-irr/  CACk 
November,  18i,9.  /  JZailUllCU.  ^49 
cial  and  natural  benzoic  acids,  artificial  sodium  benzoate,  boroglycer- 
ide,  salicylic  acid,  boric,  citric  and  tartaric  acids,  sodium  carbonate, 
borax,  sodium  fluorid,  sodium  silicofluorid  and  a  mixture  of  borax 
and  boric  acid.  From  his  observations,  the  author  is  of  the  opinion 
that  if  the  use  of  any  preservatives  is  to  be  permitted  in  food, 
sodium  benzoate  and  boric  acid  are  the  least  objectionable,  since 
they  appear  to  have  the  least  tendency  to  disturb  the  digestive 
functions.  L.  F.  K. 
EDITORIAL. 
THE  PRODUCTION  AND  CULTIVATION  OF  CAMPHOR. 
Iu  1890  Prof.  John  M.  Maisch  called  attention  to  the  attempts  on  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  camphor  tree  in  Florida  and  exhibited  specimens  at  one  of  the 
Pharmaceutical  Meetings  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  of  the  crude 
camphor  obtained  from  trees  grown  there  (this  Journal,  1890,  p.  565,  592).  A 
few  years  ago  Lyster  H.  Dewey  prepared  a  paper  on  the  camphor  tree  (this  Jour- 
nal, 1897,  p.  507),  and  showed  that  experiments  were  being  conducted  in  this 
country  to  cultivate  the  camphor  tree,  and  that  it  had  been  grown  successfully 
out  of  doors  as  far  north  as  Charleston  and  Summerville,  S.  C;  Augusta,  Ga., 
and  Oakland,  Cal.  The  article  is  a  valuable  one,  and  while  he  does  not  enter 
into  the  difficulties  connected  with  the  subject  (i.  e.,  in  getting  cheap  enough 
labor,  etc.),  yet  indicates  the  possibilities  of  an  important  industry  of  this  kind 
by  reason  of  the  fact  that,  while  in  recent  years  the  importations  of  camphor 
are  decreasing,  the  price  is  steadily  increasing. 
In  an  article  on  "  The  Production  of  Camphor  in  China,"  Augustine  Henry 
{Pharm.  Jour.,  1897,  March  6;  Amer.  Jour.  Pharm.,  1897,  p.  259)  said  that, 
while  the  production  of  camphor  on  the  mainland  of  China  was  an  affair  of 
only  the  last  few  years,  at  Kwangsi  it  promises  to  develop  into  an  import- 
ant industry. 
There  are  a  number  of  people,  particularly  in  the  Old  World,  who  are  consid- 
ering the  possibilities  of  producing  camphor  from  cultivated  plants,  and  it 
may  interest  the  readers  of  this  Journal  to  know  the  present  outlook  on  the 
production  and  cultivation  of  camphor.  We  give  an  excerpt  on  this  subject 
from  the  Kew  Bulletin,  1899,  p.  65: 
"PRODUCTION  IN  FORMOSA. 
"The  following  is  extracted  from  the  Foreign  Office  Report  on  Trade  in  Japan 
for  1897  (Misc.  Series,  440,  pp.  71-72)  : 
"  The  trade  in  camphor  will  probably  undergo  some  modification.  Camphor 
trees  are  not  found  in  that  part  of  the  island  (of  Formosa)  occupied  by  Chinese 
settlers.  They  occur  only  in  the  country  of  the  aborigines,  or  upon  the  imme- 
diate border,  and  up  to  the  present  time  the  destruction  of  trees  has  been  car- 
ried on  in  the  most  wasteful  manner.  The  mode  of  obtaining  supplies  of  cam- 
phor was  for  foreign  merchants,  through  Chinese  agents,  to  advance  money  to 
the  savage  chiefs  for  permission  to  cut  down  trees.  The  stills  were  erected  at 
the  expense  of  the  foreigners,  who  paid  a  tax  of  $8  a  still  to  the  Chinese 
