<&H  Jock.  Phaem.  ) 
Oct.  I,  1873.  j 
Camphor. 
459 
CAMPHOR. 
Perhaps  the  most  common  and  popular  medicinal  agent  for  house- 
hold use  is  camphor,  a  drug  which  has  been  regarded  as  a  cure  all  by 
mothers,  grandmothers  and  great-grandmothers  down  through  many 
generations.  The  "  camphor-bottle,''  holding  a  solution  of  the  agent 
in  rum  or  dilute  alcohol,  is  found  upon  a  shelf  in  almost  every  dwell- 
ing; and  if  among  the  younger  or  older  members  of  the  family  an 
ankle  is  turned,  or  a  limb  bruised,  or  there  is  head-ache,  or  tooth-ache, 
or  ear-ache,  or  belly-ache,  down  comes  the  camphor-bottle,  and  the 
suffering  member  is  well  dosed.  Camphor  is  a  powerful  agent,  and 
In  moderate  doses  is  capable  of  doing  much  mischief.  It  is  a  matter 
of  wonder  that  so  few  instances  of  injury  result,  considering  its  wide 
spread,  empirical  employment. 
Camphor  is  brought  to  this  country  in  a  crude  or  impure  state,  and 
liere  it  is  subjected  to  the  process  of  distillation  to  render  it  fit  for 
^employment.  There  are  several  important  refineries  in  the  country. 
A  correspondent  of  The  People  presents  the  following  interesting 
facts  regarding  camphor  and  this  refinery  : 
The  camphor  of  commerce  comes  from  Formosa,  Sumatra,  Borneo, 
-Japan  and  China.  It  is  obtained  in  crystalline  masses  already  formed, 
and  also  in  grains  by  distillation.  The  tree  which  produces  the  for- 
mer kind  is  a  near  relative  of  our  basswood,  which  we  know  as  a 
■charming  tree,  perfuming  the  air  and  yielding  the  finest  honey  in  the 
world.  It  grows  on  the  Diri  Mountains  in  Sumatra,  and  in  Borneo. 
It  towers  upward  more  than  a  hundred  feet,  and  has  been  known  to- 
attain  a  girth  of  fifty  feet.  The  spirited  persuasion  of  the  axe  draws 
from  this  forest  monster  the  white  treasures  secreted  in  the  longitu- 
dinal fissures  in  its  heart  wood,  sometimes,  though  rarely,  in  a  layer 
as  large  as  a  man's  arm,  but  more  frequently  in  small  fragments  to 
foe  carefully  extracted  by  some  sharp  pointed  instrument.  It  is  not 
an  abundant  bearer.  Twenty  pounds  is  a  rare  yield  for  a  great  tree  ; 
*ten  pounds  is  a  good  harvest  from  one  of  medium  size,  and  many  are 
felled  and  split  that  furnish  no  camphor.  This,  however,  is  not  an 
entire  waste,  since  the  wood  is  easily  worked  and  is  never  attacked 
bj  the  voracious  myriads  of  Eastern  insects  which  destroy  all  other 
varieties  except  the  teak  and  calambuco.  House  and  ship  timber  are 
^nade  from  it,  besides  many  articles  of  furniture,  and  the  aromatic 
trunk  is  extremely  valuable  to  the  housekeepers  of  our  colder  climate. 
This  kind  of  camphor  seldom- finds  its  way  to  Europe  and  America. 
