Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/441

 CAM

prcflcd vegetable oil, or by feparating the oil which fwims upon the furface of a ftrong folution of camphor, in fpirit of wine. To prepare the other, one part of camphor is to be ifiixed with three parts of bole armenic, and put over the fire in a retort. The fublimed camphor, is to be again mixed with freih bole, and this fo often repeated till no more camphor is found to be fublimed in the procefs; from this, the liquid matter, feparated by diflillation, is to be feparated., and the oil preferved. Aft. Eruditor. 1727. p. 52$. Camphor may alfo be diflblved in oil of turpentine, or mixed with Venice foap, and thus diftillcd, and finally, rectified. All thefe oils are ftrongly empireumatic, and therefore the camphor, in its natural ftate, is greatly preferable to them all. Camphor water, and the flowers of camphor, are alfo greatly inferior to the crude fubftance. When camphor is to be mixed with powders, it {hould be gently moiftcned, in the rubbing, with fpirit of wine ; when it is to be mixed with aqueous menftruums it fhould be rubb'd with blanched al- monds, or incorporated with the yolk of an eo-g The ufual way of extracting camphor from the tree, is by cutting the root in final! pieces, and putting them in a vefiel, covering them with water, clofing the vefTel with a ftraw covering, and making a gentle fire under it ; the volatile parts arc fublimed and caught, and condenfed by the covering, and formed into cakes of camphor Bradl Di&. Hot. in voc. Some naturalifts afiert, that befides the common camphor, another may be procured from the root of the cinnamon tree, the zedbary of Ceylon, fome fpecies of rofemary, fouthern wood, and other aromatic plants ; which is, in fome meafure, confirmed by the experiments of Mr. Neuman, chemift of the king of Pruffia ; who has produced a true denfe chryfta- li-form .am- her, poffeffed of all the qualities, except the fmell, of the oriental camphor, from the common garden thyme. Phil. Tranf. N° 3&0. p. 323, feq. But Mr. Brown, foon after, made remarks on Mr. Neuman's paper, and mentioned feveral experiments, by which it ap- peared, that common camphor differed confidcrably from that cryibliiform fuMahce arifing from thyme. Phil. Tranf. N° 3&0, and 390.

Camphor is fometimes purified by diflblving it in fpirit of wine, and then diftilling the fpirit from it, the camphor being after wards melted in glafles, is formed into cakes of the form of the glafles. Aft. Acad. Nat. Cuiiof. Vol. 5. Obf. 98. Dr. Shaw recommends a mixture of nitre and camphor, as a quieter, inftead of opium. Chem. Left, p. 234. The learned Fr Hoffman extols the virtues of ca?nphor given internally, as a moll excellent difcutient, refitting putrefac- tion, and as the chief alexipharmic. He advifes it in malig- nant fevers, and in the venereal difeafe : in inflammations he adds nitre. See his Differtation, De camphor m ufu interna fe- enrijfuno ct prcejlanUJfmw. Oper. T. 6. p. 60. Kempfer defcribes a fort of laurel, growing in the weftern parts of Japan, called by the literati Jf,o, by the populace. km nokl, which yields camphor. 1 he extracting it is the work of the pcafants in the province of Satzuma, and the neighbour- ing illands, Gotho, c3V. where the tree is plentiful. They chop the wood and roots fmall, boil them in an iron veflel, over which is put a large earthen capital, furnifhed with a beak : as the rcfin or camphor rifes into the capital, it gathers and hangs on the ftraw placed there to receive it. Vid. Kcmpf. Amaen.Exot. Fafc. 5. cl. 1. p. 770. Seba, Thef. Rer. Natur. T. 1. Fig 33. Bib!. Raif. T. iz. p. 372. 1 hough the virtues of camphor are in many cafes very great, yet Boccone gives us a remarkable inftance of its efficacy in external applications, which feems to argue that the ufe of this medicine is not free from danger. A certain empiric being fent for to a woman, who, after a fevere fit of an apo- plexy, had fallen into a palfy of the whole left fide; he anoint- ed her from head to foot every morning and evening on th fide, with campfor diflblved in fpirit of wine, and other things: in the whole time of his ufing this medicine, which was fix weeks, he employed no lefs than twelve pounds of camphor. This vaft quantity had no fenfible effecl upon the woman, nor at all relieved her in the difeafe. She was with child z the while, and went her proper time when fhe was delivered of a fon feemingly perfect, but that all his bones were foft and flexible ; the bones of his legs and arms fecming like tendons. The child lived eighteen months, and the bones never har- dened. This being a fingle inftance, it is not eafy to fay. with any degree of certainty, whether it was owing to the camphor ; though there feems fome room to believe that it was, Boccone Mufeo de Piante- Pri?uipfes of Camphor. — Mr. Lemery, in his analyfis of this drug, made it his great care to feparate its principles without the intervention of any foreign fubftance, that he might be afliired of having them pure and genuine; but he found it impoftible ever to fucceed perfectly in this attempt. He found that its principles were an oil and a volatile fait ; but that thefe were fo intimately united together in the mixt, that they Were not to be perfectly feparated by any pains in this manner, but always afforded fimple folutions } or fimple fublimations. The camphor he ufed, was the rough or native kind 5 and the refult of his experiments was as follows :

CAM

Camphor is not foluble in aqueous liquors, but in fulphureous ones; which is a property common with it to all fulphureous fubftances, at leaft fo far as they are fulphureous. If a folu- tion of camphor, in fpirit of wine, be fet on fire, the flame will be bluifh at firft. This is owing to the fpirit of wine, which naturally burns firft. As this confumes, the camphor will be feen colieaing itl'elf into a mafs ; and when the fpirit is all burnt away, the flame will not ceafe, but only will ap- pear white, becaufe the camphor alone is burning. If a ftrong folution of camphor be mixt with water, the camphor will feparate itfclf in form of a white butter, the fpirit being, when fo weakened, no longer able to retain it in folution. If a folution of camphor, in fpirit of wine, be mixed with' fpirit of fal armoniac, made with fait of tartar, the whole is immediately converted into a fnow-white, tolerably firm fub- ftance; but if the fpirit of fal armoniac, made with lime, be ufed, there is only found a flight precipitation, which is dif- folved again in a little time. Oil of tartar, though an alkali not lefs powerful than the fpirit of fal armoniac, produces no! change at all in the folution of camphor. Spirit, or oil of tur- pentine, and oil of olives both diflblve camphor, both being fulphureous liquors : each of thefe, however, is capable of diflblving only a fourth part of its own weight. In diflilling thefe feveral folutions of camphor, its proportionate weight to the folvents was found ; for it is certain, that a body lighter than another will rife before it in diftillation ; that two bodies equally light, will rife together. Thus Mr. Lemery found, that camphor was heavier than fpirit of wine ; equally heavy with oil of turpentine, and lighter than oil of olives. Mem. Acad. Par. 1 708.

This is the hiftory of the folutions of camphor in fulphureous fluids, but it was alfo proper to examine the effefls of acid,- and alkaline liquors upon it. Oil of tartar, and fpirit of fal armoniac, were both tried in vain as folvents, neither diflblv- ing any part of it. Spirit of vitriol, fpirit of alum, and di- flilled vinegar, are alfo as unable to diflblve it; and in at- tempting a folution of it over the fife in thefe liquors, the camphor fublimes away from them, and (licks to the head of the matrafs unaltered.

The black oil of vitriol, containing fome fulphuf, diffolves camphor in the proportion of four parts of the liquor, to one of the fubftance ; and good fpirit of fait, diffolves it imperfeflly in the proportion of three parts to one ; but it is perfedly fo- luble in fpirit of nitre, and requires only twice its own weight of that liquor : and it is to be obferved, that camphor is the only known refin that is foluble in this menftruum. This fo- lution is called oil of cainphcr.

Camphor Julep. See Julep.

Camphor Oil. Set Oil. of camphor.

CAMPHORATA, a medicinal plant, called in Englifh, {link- ing ground pine ; reputed cephalic and nervine ; though little ufed in the modern practice, ghiim. Pharmac. P 2. Sect. 1. n. 3. See Cham /TiPITys.

It takes the name from its fmell, which bears fome refemblance to that of camphor.

The campborala ManfpcVicnfn, growing by the road fides in Langueduc, and efpecially about Montpelier; has been lately produced as a fpecific for the dropfy and afthma. 1\J. Burlet has given its hiftorv and analyfis. Vid. Hift. Acad. Scienc. An 1 703. p. 65, feq.

CAMPHORATED, denotes a thing tinctured, or impregnated with camphor. See Camphor.

Spirit of wine camphorated, i- a remedy frequently applied ex- ternally in cafes of inflammations, c?tr

CAMPICURSIO, in the antient military art, a march of armed men for feveral miles, from and back again to the camp, to inftruft them in the military pace. This exercife was near- ly akin to the decurfw, from which it only differed, in that the' latter was performed by horfemen, the former alfo by foot. Jauitt. Lex. Milit. T. I. p. 155.

CAMP1DOCTORES, or Campidcctores, in the Roman army, were officers who inftrucfed the foldiefy in the dif- cipline and exercifes of war, and the art of handling their weapons to advantage. Thefe are alfo fometimes called cam- pigeiii, and armidoclcres. Vid. Salmaf. de. re Milit. c. 6. DuCangc, Gloff. Lat. T. 1. p. 714 Pitife. Lex. Ant. T. I. p. 3'<8. Kenn. Rom. Ant. P. 2. 1. 4. c. 13 p. 215. Aquin. Lex. Milit. T 1. p. 155.

CAMPIDUCTOR, KApmb*mi ti in middle age writers, figni- fies the leader or commander of an arm)', or party. Du Cange, GlofT. Lat. T. 1. p. 715. Item, Gloff. Grac. T. 1.

p. 560. VOC, KrcptrthxTvc.

CAMPIPARS. See Champart.

CAMPITiE, in church hiftory, an appellation given to the do-

natifts, on account of their affembling in the fields for want

of churches. Du Cange, Glofli Lat. T. 1. p. 727. Sec

Donatists, Cycl.

For a firnilar reafon, they were alfo denominated mmtenfes and

rupiiani. CAMPINSA, in botany, a name given by Myrepfus and others

to the plant we caWfcal/ious.

It was more ufually written fcampinfa, and was a barbarous

Greek; word formed of the Latin fabiofe, by the common 6 F practice-