Encyclopædia americana. A popular dictionary of arts, sciences, literature, history, politics and biography, a new ed.; including a copious collection of original articles in American biography; on the basis of the 7th ed. of the German Conversations-lexicon. Ed. by Francis Lieber, assisted by E. Wigglesworth ...

442 CAMPER-CAMPHOR.
method of delineating various sorts of in large iron pots, which serve as bhe
heads with accuracy, is intended to prove body of the still, with earthen heads fitted
that the rules laid down by the most eel- to them, stuffed with straw, and provided
ebrated lilmners and painters are very de- with receivers. Most of the camphor befective. His general doctrine is. that the comes condensed in the solid form among
difference in form and cast of counte- the straw, and part conmes over with the
niance proceeds from the facial angle. water. Its sublimation is performed in
(q. v.) In his essay on the organs of low, flat-bottomed glass vessels, placed in
speech in apes, he proves that nature has sand, and the camphor becolnes concrete,
rendered the pronunciation of articulate in a pure state, against the upper part,
sounds impossible, even to those which ap- whence it is afterwards separated with a
proach nearest to man, by lateral pouches knife, after breaking the glass. —Numerconnected with the windpipe; C. wrote in ous other vegetables are found to yield
four languages, and received ten prizes camphor by distillation. Among them
from different academies. HIe received are thyme, rosemary, sage, elecampane,
his education at Leyden, and travelled, anemone and pusatilla. A smell of camland obtained the acquaintance of many phor is disengaged when tie volatile oil of
of the most distinguished men of Europe, fennel is treated with acids; and a small
after which he was made professor of quantity of camphor may be obtained
philosophy, medicine and surgery in Fra- from oil of turpentine by simple distillaneker. IHe taught the same sciences, af- tion, at a very gentle heat.-Camphor has
terwards, in Amsterdam and Gr6ningen. a bitterish, aromatic taste, is unctuous to
CAmPETTr; an Italian, born at Garg- the touch, and possesses a degree of
nano, on lake Garda, who has attracted toughness which prevents it from being
much attention, in our time, by pretend- pulverized with facility, unless a few
ing to be capable of ascertaining, by his drops of alcohol be added, when it is
faelings, the places where metals and easily reduced to a powder. It floats on
water exist under the ground. Many ex- water, and is exceedingly volatile, being
periments seemed to confirm his state- gradually dissipated in vapor if kept in
ments. The king of Bavaria sent for him open vessels. At 2880 Fahr. it enters into
in 1806, and he came to Muinich, where fusion, and boils at 400~ Fahr. It is insolthe experiments were renewed. These uble in water, but is dissolved freely by
experiments were chiefly made with pen- alcohol, fi-om which it is immediately
dulums of sulphurous pyrites, which are precipitated, in milky clouds, on the addisaid to vibrate if brought near to met- tion of water. It is likewise soluble in
als. Information on this subject is con- the fixed and volatile oils, and in strong
tained in Aretin's Aleuer Literarischer Jn- acetic acid. Sulphuric acid decomposes
zeiger (1807), beginning with No. 22. camphor, converting it into a substance
Gilbert also published, in 1808, interest- like artificial tannlin.. With nitric acid, it
ing elucidations of these experiments. yields a peculiar acid, called camphoric
(See Rhabdomancy.) acid. This acid combines with alkalies,
CxAMPrIoR is a white, resinous produc- and forms peculiar salts, called camiphortion, of peculiar and powerful smell, not ates. They have not hitherto been apunlike that of rosemary, and is extracted plied to any useful purpose.-As an
firom two or three kinds of trees of the internal medicine, camphor has been fiebay tribe, that grow in the islands of the quently employed, in doses of from 5
lEast Indies and China. Of these, the to 20 grains, with much advantage, to
principal is the laurus camphora of Lin- procure sleep in mania, and to counteract
nteus. It is of considerable height, much gangrene. In large doses, it acts as,
branched, and has spear-shaped leaves, poison. Dissolved in acetic acid, with
with nerves, of a pale-yellowish-green some essential oils, it forms the aromatic
color on the upper side, and bluish-green vinegar. It promotes the solution of cobeneath. The flowers are small, white, pal; and, from the circumstance that its
and stand on stalks which issue from the effluvia are very noxious to insects, it is
lunction of the leaves and branches. much used to defend subjects of natural
Camphor is found in every part of the history from their ravages.-In a crude
trces; in the interstices of the perpendic- state, camphor is formed into irregular
ular fibres, and in the veins of the wood, lumps, of a yellowish-gray color, somein the crevices and knots, in the pith, and what resembling nitre or bay-salt. It is
in the roots, which affbrd by far the imported into Europe in canisters, and
greatest abundance. The method of ex- the refining of it was long kept a secret
tracting it consists in distilling with water by the Venetians. The Dutch have since