The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1910-02-25
cAMPHoR HAS MANY VIRTUES.
Numerous Uses In Medicine-COmes
from the Orient.

/ Numerous Uses In Medicine-Comes
| from the Orient.
Camphor Is used in medicine, both
outwardly and inwardly, sometimes as
| a temporary stimulant and sometimes
as sedative. Everybody has heard
of the use of camphor drops for per-
sons liable to fainting fits. 1t is fire.
quently employed in gout and rheu-
matism. In small doses 1t acts as an
anodyne and antispasmodic, but in
large doses it is an irritant poison.
The alcoholic solution and the lini
ments in which it is the chief ingredi-
ent are much used for external appli-
cations, for sprains and bruises, chill
blains and even for incipient paralysis.
The employment of camphor as
medicine in England is not very old;
| 1t was used In Germany before 1t be-
| came known In England, and In medi-
cal books of the last century 1t was
called Campfire" All kinds Of heal
ing properties were ascribed by Eng
lish and foreign doctors to the drug,
Of the importation of which from
Japan the Dutch had the monopoly.
Camphor was said to be powerful
antiseptic, to be cure for hypochon-
driasis, and to be useful In cases OF
epilepsy.
1t was administered mixed with
vinegar or rubbed up with mucilage
of gum arabic or combined with GER
tain quantity of sweet almonds. There
cannot be any doubt that camphor has
many medical uses and could be i'll
spared from the pharmacopeia, but
there Is some consolation to be found
In the fact that 1t Is possible to pre-
pare artificial camphor by the mutual
action Of hydrochloride acid gas and
oil Of turpentine, which produces
white substance possessing camphor-
like odor and which Is soluble in al
cohol
Camphor, condiments and the cor
dial 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 skill
| full chemist and fervid Republican
Raspail. Year after year. in his once
popular almanac, the virtues Of cam
phor were extolled, and, coud the
French savant revisit the glimpses Of
the moon, his spirit would be sorely
troubled by the intelligence that, in all
probability, there is likely to be q
scarcity of camphor.
Since the war the imports Of the
odorous drug have fallenoc to progig-
ious extent. 1t is not only, however,
on Japan that we depend for cam
phor. Almost all the camphor of com
merce is the product of the camphor
laurel or camphor tree, which is ma
tive not only of Japan, but Of China,
Cochin China and Formosa, and Its
cultivation has been introduced into
Java and the West Indies, 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 affords
both timber and gum for expectation
and domestic use. The gum Is pro-
cured from the branches, leaves and
chips by first soaking them In water
until the liquid becomes saturated
with 1t, when it is turned out into an
earthen basin to coagulate, and under
goes other treatment 1t comes to
market in crude state, and is nom
inally again refined after reaching
Europe.
There Is also an oil extracted from
camphor which rarely comes to Europe
and the article made In BorEeo and
Sumatra is so much esteemed in the
east that even in markets of Japan
200 pounds of the camphor of the lat
ter country used to be given in ex-
change for one pound Of the product
of the former. The Bornean camphor
is white like chalk, but has the same
smell and taste as that of China and
Japan. The natives ascribe extraor.
dinary medicinal virtues to 1t, and fire
quently hang 1t powdered in bags
around their necks or around their
waists, wrists and ankles, and, curl
ously enough. this use OF powdered
camphor was strongly advocated by
Raspail.