The Tupelo journal., 1905-03-03
TIE VIRTUES OF cAMPHoR
Many Uses to Which the Drug Is
Put in Treating Human
Ills.

| Cd1DpnOr Is uSeQ IN meulclne, DOLH
outwardly and inwardly, sometimes as
a temporary stimulant and sometimes
as a sedative. Everybody has heard
of the use of camphor drops for per-
sons liable to fainting fits. 1t is fire.
quently employed in govt and rheuma-
tism. In small doses it acts as an ano-
dyne and antispasmodic, but in large
doses it is an irritant poison, says
London Health. The alcoholic solu-
ton and the liniments in which it is
the chief ingredient are much used for
external applications, for sprains and
bruises, chilblains, and even for in
cipient paralysis. The employment OF
camphor as a medicine in England is
not very old; it was used in Germany
before 1t became known in England
and in medical books of the last cen
fury is was called campfire" All
Kinds of healing properties were
ascribed both by English and foreign
doctors to the drug, of the importa-
ton OF which from Japan the Dutch
had he monopoly. Camphor was said
to be a powerful antiseptic, to be a
cure for hypochondriasis, and to be
useful in cases Of epilepsy.
1t was administered mixed with vine
gar, or rubbed up with a mucilage of
gum arabic, or combined with a GER
tain quantity of sweet almonds. There
cannot be any doubt that camphor has
many medicinal uses, and could be i'll
spared from the pharmocopoeia, but
there is some consolation to be found
In the fact that it is possible to pre-
pare artificial camphor by the mutual
action OF h~ydrochloride acid gas and
Oil OF ~turpentine, which produces a
white substance possessing a camphor-
like Odor, and which is soluble in alco-
hol, Camphor, condiments, and the
cordial which he himself invented, and
to which he gave his own name, were
the three chief specifics recommended
for the cure of almost every ailment
to which human flesh is heir by the
skilful chemist and fervid republican.
Raspail. Year after year, in his once
popular Almanack, the virtues of cam
phor were eXtolled, and, could the
French savant revisit the glimpses of
the moon, his spirit would be soreiy
troubled by the intelligence that, in all
probability. there is likely to be a scar
city of camphor. Since the war the
imports of the odOrOus drug nave
fallen off to a DrOdigious extent. 1t is
not only, however, on Japan that we
depend for campnor. Almost all The
20 rnnhnr nf cnr1noaraa &c tho nrDJ,o3
OF the camphor laurel, or camphor tree,
which is a native not only of Japan
but of China, Cochin China and For
mosa, and its cultivation has been liz
troGuced into Java and the West In
dies, two regions which have certainly
not been affected by the war in the
far east. The Chinese camphor tree is
found in Kwang-Si and Sukien, and af-
fords both timber and gum for eXporta-
ton II domestic use. The gum is
procured from the branches, leaves and
chips by first soaking them in water
until the liquid becomes saturated with
it, when it is turned out into an
earthen basin to coagulate, and under
goes other treatment. 1t comes tC
market in a crude state, and IS usually
again refined after reaching Europe.
There is also an oil extracted from
camphOr, which rarely comes to Eu-
rope. and the article made in BorneC
and Sumatra is SO much esteemed in
the far east that even in markets OF
Japan 200 pounds of the camphor OF
the latter country used to be given in
exchange for one pound of the product
of the former. The Borean camphoI
is white like chalk, but has the same
smell and taste as that of China and
Japan. The natives ascribe extraor-
binary medicinal virtues to it, and fire.
quently hang it powdered in bags
around their recks or around their
waists, wrists and ankles, and, curious
ly enough, this use of powdered cam
phor was stronly advocated by Ras-
pail.