OCR Text |
Show 382 CAMPHOR TREX. CAMPHOR TREE. and put into a still with a proportion of water. After the water has been kept boiling forty-eight hours, the camphor is found adhering to the straw with which the head of the still is lined. Inthis state it is imported by the Dutch, and is called crude camphor. It is very impure, consisting of small brownish or dirty-gray grains, mixed with straw, wood, hair, and other impurities. From these it is purified in Holland by a second sublimation in glass vessels ; being previously mixed with quicklime, to combine with and prevent any empyreumatic oil with which it may be contaminated from subliming, while the camphorconcretes in the upper part of the vessel into cakes, convex on the one side and concave on the other, about two or three inches thick, thinner at the edges, and generally perforated in the middle. Pure camphor is lighter than water, very white, pellucid, turpentine, differing from common camphor in not being soluble in weak nitric acid, nor being precipitated by water from its solution in strong nitric acid. Camphor is now universally considered as a peculiar principle of vegetables, and not asa resin, as stated by the Dublin college, somewhat unctuous to the touch, brittle, yet tough andelastic, so as to be scarcely pulverizable; shining in its fracture, and crystalline in its texture; of a bitterish, aromatic, pungent taste, yet accompanied with a sense of coolness, of a strong and ver) penetrating smell; very volatile, inflammable, burning entirely away, without leaving anycoal or ashes; capable of combining with the resins and balsams; soluble in alcohol, ether, fixed and volatile oils, and the concentrated sulphuric, nitric, muriatic, fluoric, and acetic acids ; separable fromthese alcoholic and acid solutions by water; insoluble in water, alkalis, and the weaker acids; decomposed by heat, when mixed with alumina, into an essential oil and charcoal; and by treating it with a sufficient quantity of nitric acid, forming a portion of camphoric acid ; and by treating it with sulphuric acid, forming artificial tannin. But the production of camphor is not confined to the Laurus camphora, although it furnishes almost all the camphor of commerce; it is found in very great purity in interstices among the woody fibres of an unknown tree in Borneo; it is also ae tainedin the roots of the Laurus cinnamomum and cassia, Alpina galanga, Amomum zedoaria, &c.; in the seeds of the Amomum cardamomum, Piper cubeba, &c. ; and in manyindigenous plants, as in the Thymus serpyllum and vulgaris, Juniperus commun’, Rosmarinus officinalis, Salvia officinalis, Mentha piperata, &e. 5 and may be separated from the essential oils of rosemary, Javen: ee x mavalso be Anartificial camphor may als ite dar, marjoram, and sage. prepared, by directing a stream of muriatic acid gas into 8) 383 MEDICAL USE, Camphor is a very active substance when taken into the stomach. It increases the heat of the body considerably, and gives a tendency to diaphoresis, but without quickening the pulse. At first it raises the spirits, but produces a subsequent depression, and facilitates voluntary motion. In excessive doses it causes syncope, anxiety, retchings, convulsions, and delirium. These violent effects of camphor are most effectually counteracted by opium. In a morbid state of the body, camphorallays inordinate actions. When the pulse is hard and contracted, it renders it fuller and softer. It removes spasms, and flitting pains arising from spasms ; andin delirium, when opiumfails of procuring sleep, camphor will often succeed. It is also said to correct the bad effects of opium, mezereon, cantharides, and the drastic purgatives and diuretics. The most general indication for the use of camphor, is the languor or oppression of the vis vite. Dr. Cullen gives us the following account of this importa nt remedy :—Camphor has been employed in fevers of all kinds, particularly in nervous fevers attended with delirium and much watchfulness; and in such I have frequently employed it with advantage. Sometime ago I have often seen it employed by myfellow-practitioners in such cases; and that the good effects of it did not always appear, I imputed to its being used only in small quantities. Since we came into the free use of wine and opium, camphor has beenlittle employed in the practice of this country. The use of it, however, has been very fully established by some of the most eminent physicians on the continent ; among these I reckon the late learned and experienced Werlhoff, Who often employed it in manyin flammatorydiseases with great benefit, and plainly gives us his opinion in favour of its refriserant power. The use: of this medicine has been especially remarkable in putrid fevers, of which, indeed, we have not manyinstances in this Country; but from the very remarkable antiseptic powers |