CAMPHOR.
Kafur, AR., HIND., PERS. Kapur Japun, . . . JAP. Pa-yok, also Parouk, BeR. Camphors, . . . . LAT. Kapur Bali, . . CHIN. Kapur Barns, . . MALAY. Kamfer, . . . HUT. Alcanfor, . . PORT., SP.
Camphre, . . . FR. Kamfora , Rus Kampfer, . . . GER. Karpura, . . . SAME. Kupros, . . . . GR. Capuru, . . . SINGH.
KOpher, HEB. Carpurana, . . . TAM.
Canfora, . . . . Ir. Carpuramu, . . . TEL.
Chinese Camphor tree, Chang-nau, Pien-nau, Shan-. nau, Chang-chau-fu, Shau-chau-fu.
Camphor of Borneo, or Barns Camphor, Lung-nau hiang, Po-luh-hiang, Hoh-po-lo-hiang, Ping-plea, Mei-hwa-p'ien.
The camphor of commerce is obtained from two trees, one of which, Dryobalanops camphora, grows in Sumatra, Borneo, and Labnan ; the other, the Camphora officinalis, or Litmus camphora, grows in China. The names for it in many languages of the world, are sufficiently alike to show that a knowledge of the substance came from one source, probably China or Sumatra, and the words Dutch, or Japan, or Tub camphor, Barns camphor, China camphor, Formosa camphor, have been added merely to indicate the place of production. The unrefined or crude camphor of commerce is the product of the Camphora officinalis, and is of two kinds, viz. Dutch or Japan, or Tub camphor, so called from being brought from Batavia to Europe in tubs, containing 1 cwt. to lf cwt., and is in the form of lumps of pinkish grains. The second kind is called ordinary crude camphor, China camphor, and Formosa camphor, much of it being produced in Formosa, shipped to China, and re shipped to Europe in square chests lined with lead-foil, and containing from lf to cwt. In this crude state it consists of dirty greyish grains. This crude material is obtained by distillation from the roots and wood of the Camphora officin alis tree, which is chopped up and split up into billets, which are boiled in plenty of water in largo boilers, with a conical or round straw cover smeared with clay outside ; and, as the water boils, the. crude camphor is deposited on the inner straw. Refined camphor is obtained from this product by distillation, which is carried on in various ways ; but the whole process consists in using two round vessels, inverting one above the other, and adding 2 per cent. of quicklime in order to absorb any oil, and distil from one vessel to another. Two earthen pots, luted together, answer perfectly, a very small aperture being left for the escape of air on the first application of heat. It is largely refined in Bombay. In China it is prepared very carelessly, by soaking in water the chipped wood of the root, trunk, and branches, and sublim ing it.
The Borneo or Barus camphor, the Lung-naou hiang or dragon's-brain perfume' of the Chinese, is a product of the Dryobalanops camphora, Cole brooke. his much esteemed in China, and is called by the natives and in commerce, kapur barns,' or Barns camphor, to distinguish it from the product of the Camphora officinalis, or Japan camphor. It derives its name of Barus from a place in Sumatra where it is produced, and whence it was probably first exported. The tree is found on all the northern parts of Borneo, and is said to be particularly abundant in the country of the Kyan, in the in terior, on the Biutulu and Rejang rivers. The pro duce, though so valued by the Chinese, is not much used by the natives, though it is occasionally taken inwardly as a medicine. The price in China of the Borneo camphor is said to be higher than that of Japan, in the proportion of twenty to one ; it has been supposed that this disproportion is caused more by some fancies of the conSuther than any real distinction of properties. As not one in ten trees
is found to produce camphor, its presence must be caused by a particular state, either of vigour or disease, in the tree ; and the camphor collectors cut notches in the trees, in order, before felling, to ascertain whether they are likely to produce camphor. It is said that in those which produce it, the younger and smaller trees are often found to be quite as prolific as the older and larger trees. The camphor is found in a concrete state in the crevices or fissures of the wood, so that it can only be extracted by felling the tree, which is afterwards cut into blocks and split into wedges, and the camphor, which is white and transparent, is then taken out. An essential oil is also found in hollows in the wood, which the natives crystal lize artificially ; but the camphor thus obtained is not so much esteemed as that found naturally crystallized. From the oldest and richest trees they rarely collect more than two ounces. After a long stay in the woods, frequently of three months, during which they may fell a hundred trees, a party of thirty persons rarely bring away more than 15 or 20 pounds of solid camphor, worth from 200 to 250 dollars. The variety and price of this costly substance are e anted by a custom which has immemorially preva ed among the Batta race, of delaying the burial f every person who, during his life, had a claim to the title of raja (of which each village has one) until some rice, sown on the day of his death, has sprung up, grown, and borne fruit. The corpse, till then kept above ground among the living, is now, with these ears of rice, committed to the earth, like the grain six months before, and thus the hope is emblematically expressed that, as a new life arises from the seed, so another life shall begin for man after his death. During this time the corpse is kept in the house, enclosed in a coffin made of the hollowed trunk of a durinon, and the whole space between the coffin and the body is filled with pounded camphor, for the purchase of which the family of the deceased raja frequently impoverish themselves. Camphor oil is also said to be collected by incisions at the base of the trunk, from which the clear balsamic juice is very slowly discharged. Barns camphor is getting scarce, as the tree must be destroyed to obtain it. About 800 pikuls are annually sent to China. Malay camphor is more fragrant and not so pungent as the Chinese camphor. 983 tubs of camphor were exported from Java in 1843 ; 625 bales were im ported in 1843, the produce of the Japanese empire, and 559 pikuls exported from Canton in 1844. In London in 1880 it was selling at 85s. the cwt. The wood of the camphor tree is good timber, suited for house and ship building. The liquid camphor of the same tree appears of the nature of camphogen. Dr. A. T. Thomson, by passing a current of oxygen gas through it, con verted it into camphor. In Spain, a camphor has been obtained from some of the Labiatre. In Burma considerable quantities have been produced from the Blumea grandis ; and a similar chemical product has been obtained in Europe, by passing a stream of muriatic gas through turpentine. It is largely employed in medicine ; and to burn cam phor before an idol forms part of the ritual of the Hindus.—Low's Sarawak, pp. 44-46 ; Marsden's Sumatra, p. 150 ; Royle's Mat. Med. ; Crawfurd's Dictionary, p. 81 ; Simmonds' Comm. Prod.; O'Sh. ; Mason's Tenasserim ; Tomlinson, pp. 287-8.