Camphor

[Guest guest]

Here are some recipes I came across on the web. I haven't used them, but they

might be used as a guide or reference.

 

Vapor Rub

40 drops essential oil of Camphor

30 drops essential oil of Eucalyptus

15 drops essential oil of Wintergreen

1 ounce Olive Oil

1/2 teaspoon Beeswax

Preparation: Add the beeswax to the olive oil and heat until the beeswax is

melted. Use very low heat or a double boiler to prevent burning the oil. When

the wax is melted, remove the oil from the heat then add the essential oils and

stir to blend. When the mixture is cool it is ready to use. You can make this

using only the eucalyptus oil if necessary.

 

To use rub a small amount on the chest as needed to relieve congestion.

 

 

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Eucalyptus Chest Rub

40 drops essential oil of Eucalyptus

10 drops essential oil of Camphor

2 drops essential oil of Wintergreen

1 drop essential oil of thyme

1 ounce Olive Oil

1/2 teaspoon Beeswax

 

Preparation: Add the beeswax to the olive oil and heat until the beeswax is

melted. Use very low heat or a double boiler to prevent burning the oil. When

the wax is melted, remove the oil from the heat then add the essential oils and

stir to blend. When the mixture is cool it is ready to use. You can make this

using only the eucalyptus oil if prefered.

 

-----------------------------

 

Jonee <jonee wrote:

 

Question about camphor - I'm wondering what a (the?) safe amount would be to use

in a salve/balm, to be used like Vicks Vapo-Rub. I've read various things, but

that the general " rule of thumb " is 2.5% eo, or 15 drops per ounce of " base "

ingredients. Since this is such a strong (and potentially dangerous) eo, I

wondered if the " general " amount is ok.

 

 

 

 

 

Photos - Get your photo on the big screen in Times Square

 

 

[Guest guest]

Thanks so very much, Gail - when I try them, I'll post results. Even

though I love the smell, I may leave out the wintergreen. Hard

knowing what's best sometimes! There isn't much in the chest rub

recipe, and both would only be used occasionally. (Thinking " out

loud " - dangerous sometimes, LOL!)

 

Jonee

 

 

> Here are some recipes I came across on the web. I haven't used

them, but they might be used as a guide or reference.

 

> Jonee <jonee@w...> wrote:

>

> Question about camphor - I'm wondering what a (the?) safe amount

[Guest guest]

King's American Dispensatory.

by Harvey Wickes Felter, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D.,

1898.

 

 

Camphora (U. S. P.)—Camphor.

 

Preparations: Compound Mixture of Camphor - Camphor Cerate - Camphor

Water - Compound Powder of Camphor - Camphor Ointment - Camphor

Liniment - Compound Liniment of Camphor - Compound Pills of Camphor -

Spirit of Camphor - Camphorated Mixture of Oils - Camphorated Soap

Liniment

Related entry: Lindera.—Spice-Bush - Cinnamomum.—Cinnamon - Laurus.—

Laurel

Other tomes

External links: Köhler: pic

 

FORMULA: C10H16O. MOLECULAR WEIGHT: 151.66.

" A stearopten (having the nature of a ketone) obtained from

Cinnamomum Camphora (Linné) Nees et Ebermaier, and purified by

sublimation (U. S. P.); (Laurus Camphora, Linné; Camphora

officinarum, C. Bauhin). "

Nat. Ord.—Laurineae.

COMMON NAMES: Laurel camphor. (Tree) Camphor laurel.

ILLUSTRATION: Bentley, and Trimen, Med. Plants, 222.

 

Botanical Source.—The Cinnamomum Camphora is a large tree with lax,

smooth branches. The leaves are evergreen, alternate, on long,

slender, smooth petioles, somewhat coriaceous, oval, acuminate,

attenuate at the base, bright-green and shining above, paler

beneath, triple-nerved, with a sunken gland at the axils of the

principal veins, projecting at the upper side and opening by an oval

pore beneath. The flowers are small, smooth, yellowish-white, in

axillary and terminal, naked corymbose panicles. The leaf-buds are

scaly. The fertile stamens are 9 in 3 rows; the inner with 2,

compressed, stalked glands at the base; the anthers 4-celled; the

outer ones turned inward; the inner ones outward. Three sterile

stamens are placed in a whorl alternating with the stamens of the

second row; 3 others are stalked, with an ovate glandular head. The

fruit is placed on the obconical base of the calyx (L.).

 

History.—Camphor, obtained from the Cinnamomum Camphora, and, in the

crude state, is imported into this country, principally from Canton,

where it undergoes purification by sublimation, before it is in a

state adapted to medicinal use. The camphor tree inhabits the

eastern and warmer latitudes of Asia. It thrives in warm countries

and is cultivated by the Italians for ornamentation. It is an

aromatic tree, all parts of it yielding the odor and giving the

taste of camphor. Camphor is obtained in Japan by cutting the wood,

roots, etc., of the tree in small pieces, boiling them in water, in

large iron stills, fitted with earthen heads, containing straw

cones. The water is kept boiling for about 48 hours, the camphor

sublimes and concretes upon the straw in the head, in the form of a

gray powder. It appears in commerce as whitish, dry, granular cakes,

slightly tinged with red, an is known as Japan camphor, or Tub

camphor, on account of being imported in a double tub. It was once

commercially known as Dutch camphor. The Chinese pursue a different

process. They steep the chopped branches in water, then boil it,

continuing the ebullition until a stick placed in the fluid will,

when cooled, be covered with the camphor. The liquor is then

strained, and by cooling, the camphor solidifies. This is then

placed alternately in layers, with powdered dry earth, in a copper

vessel, over which another one is placed, and the camphor, being

sublimed by heat, attaches itself to the upper inverted vessel. It

is of a dirty grayish color, and is known as impure or crude

camphor. Though prepared by the Chinese and known as Chinese

camphor, it is manipulated in Formosa. None is made in China. It

sometimes appears in the market like the preceding in appearance,

but oftener of a darker hue, in smaller particles, and in a moist

condition. It is packed in chests, covered inside with sheet-lead or

tin, and is known as Chinese camphor, or Formosa camphor. In

Formosa, camphor is also prepared by allowing the camphorated steam

to collect on earthen receivers placed over the vaporizing troughs.

Camphor is now refined in this country. Vessels similar to the

bombaloes of Europe (large globular glass vessels), are sometimes

used, differing, however, from the European apparatus in being made

in sections, so that they can be readily taken apart and the camphor

removed. To remove the sublimate from the bombaloes (of Europe) the

latter must be broken. It may also be sublimed slowly and cautiously

from retorts into a receiving chamber, as " flowers of camphor, " a

fine crystalline state which, by powerful pressure, may be made to

form cakes. Japan, since the acquisition of Formosa, now has a

monopoly of Chinese camphor.

 

The camphors are closely related to the different varieties of

turpentine. Two species are known in the East, viz.: Borneo camphor

(C10H18O), obtained from a very large tree, the Dryobalanops

Camphora, Colebrooke (more), which is so highly prized by the

natives that it rarely finds its way to our markets; and the Laurel

camphor (C10H16O), from the Cinnamomum (Laurus) Camphora, and which

is the ordinary camphor of commerce. Many other plants furnish

camphor by oxidation of their essential oil, as lavender, rosemary,

marjoram, pennyroyal, peppermint, feverfew, etc. Amber and the oils

of valerian, sage and tansy, also yield it when treated with nitric

acid.

 

Description.— " White, translucent masses, of a tough consistence and

a crystalline structure, readily pulverizable in the presence of a

little alcohol, ether, or chloroform; having a penetrating,

characteristic odor, and a pungently aromatic taste. Specific

gravity: 0.995 at 15° C. (59° F.). Very sparingly soluble in water,

but readily soluble in alcohol, ether, chloroform, carbon

disulphide, benzin, and in fixed and volatile oils. When camphor is

triturated, in about molecular proportions, with menthol, thymol,

phenol, or chloral hydrate, liquefaction ensues. It melts at 175° C.

(347° F.), boils at 204° C. (399.2° F.), and is inflammable, burning

with a luminous, smoky flame. On exposure to the air it evaporates

more or less rapidly at ordinary temperatures, and, when moderately

heated, it sublimes without leaving a residue. Camphor should be

kept in well-closed vessels, in a cool place " —(U. S. P.).

 

Camphor is somewhat unctuous to the touch and, besides being pungent

to the taste, it imparts an after-sense of coolness. It is so tough

and elastic as to almost defy pulverization, which may be readily

accomplished, however, by adding a few drops of alcohol or any of

the agents above mentioned. Besides the above-named solvents,

acetone dissolves it. It requires about 1300 parts of water for

solution; sugar, magnesia, carbonic acid, corrosive sublimate, or

spirit of nitrous ether render it more soluble in water. Resins and

fats, when heated with it, unite in all proportions. Three isomeric

modifications of camphor are known; they can not be distinguished

from each other, except by their action upon a ray of polarized

light; one of the varieties produces rotation of the ray to the

right; the second variety produces left-handed rotation; whilst the

third has no sensible effect upon polarized light. The common

camphor of commerce, and that obtained by the action of nitric acid

upon borneéne, is the right-handed modification. The camphor

contained in the oil of Pyrethrum (Matricaria) Parthenium exerts a

left-handed rotary action upon a ray of polarized light (Chautard);

whilst, according to Biot, the camphor deposited by oil of lavender

is destitute of any such rotary effect upon a polarized ray. By the

application of polarized light, the smallest portion of natural

camphor may be distinguished from the artificial camphor

(hydrochlorate of camphene). If small fragments of each be placed

separately on glass slides, and a drop of alcohol added to each,

they dissolve, and speedily recrystallize. If the crystallization of

the natural camphor be watched by means of the microscope and

polarized light, a most beautiful display of colored crystals is

seen, while with the artificial camphor nothing of the kind is

witnessed. Camphor is lighter than water, and keeps up a constant

rotary motion when small pieces are placed on that fluid.

 

When camphor is triturated with dragon's blood, guaiacum, galbanum,

or asafoetida, the mixture preserves the pilular consistence

indefinitely. With benzoin, tolu, mastic, and ammoniac, the mixture

becomes soft when exposed to the air. With olibanum, gamboge,

euphorbium, amber, and myrrh, the mixture remains pulverulent,

though grumous. Asafoetida, galbanum, sagapenum, tolu, dragon's

blood, olibanum, mastic, benzoin, tacamahac, guaiacum, and ammoniac,

destroy to a greater or less extent the odor of camphor (M. Planche).

 

Chemical Composition.—The class of substances known as camphors, of

which Japan camphor (C10H16O) is a representative, are products of

oxidation of the group of hydrocarbons, known as terpenes. These are

mostly all isomers of the formula C10H16, and, in turn, are hydrogen

addition products of the hydrocarbon, cymol (cymene) (C10H14), or

para-methyl-normal-propyl-benzene, having the graphic formula C6H4.

(CH3).(C3H7).

 

Japan camphor may be converted into cymol by distillation with zinc

chloride, or with phosphoric anhydride, which agencies abstract from

camphor the elements of water, thus: C10H16O-H2O=C10H14. On the

other hand, camphor may be obtained (in small amounts) by the

oxidation of terpenes. When heated with iodine, ortho-oxycymol

(carvacrol), an isomer of thymol is formed. These various reactions

point to the following graphic formula for Japan camphor:

 

C3H7.CH < /CH2.CO\ > C.CH3.

\CH2.CH/

 

Borneol (C10H18O), the camphor obtained from Dryobalanops Camphora,

stands to Japan camphor in the simple relation of a secondary

alcohol to a ketone. Consequently, borneol, by mild oxidation,

yields Japan camphor, and from the latter, inversedly, Borneo

camphor may be obtained by reduction with sodium in alcoholic

solution. When Japan camphor is heated with nitric acid on a boiling

water-bath, camphoric acid (C10H16O4) is formed; upon continued

oxidation, camphoronic acid (C9H12O5) results. When treated with

concentrated sulphuric acid, Japan camphor yields a black solution,

from which, upon dilution with water, an oily body, camphene

(C10H16), is precipitated. This substance, which is an isomer of the

terpenes, forms, with hydrochloric acid, a crystalline compound,

which has the smell of camphor, and is known as artificial camphor.

It is obtained by passing into oil of turpentine dry hydrochloric

acid gas and cooling the compound formed. Artificial camphor melts

at 125° C. (257° F.) and boils at 210° C. (410° F.).

 

The camphresinic acid of Schwanert (1863) has been shown to be a

mixture of camphoric and camphoronic acids. Oxycamphor (C10H16O2) in

white, acicular crystals, possessing the characteristic taste and

odor of camphor, results from treating camphor with the weaker

oxidizing agents (notably hypochlorous acid), and acting upon the

bodies thus formed with a solution of caustic potash in alcohol

(Wheeler, 1868). With bromine, camphor forms unstable garnet-red

crystals, having the composition C10H14OBr2, which yield, on being

heated to between 80° and 90° C. (176° to 194° F.), an amber liquid,

and evolve hydrobromic acid. On cooling, the liquid congeals,

yielding crystals of monobromide of camphor, which may be purified

by means of boiling alcohol. Chlorine also unites with camphor,

forming monochlorine and dichlorine camphors, while iodine forms

with camphor a substitution product.

 

ACIDUM CAMPHORICUM.—Camphoric acid (C10H16O4). Camphoric acid is an

oxidation product from boiling camphor and nitric acid, or

permanganate of potassium, usually the former. It may be prepared by

heating camphor with 10 times its weight of concentrated nitric

acid. It presents odorless needle-like crystals, having a faintly

acid taste. It is soluble in boiling, but very sparingly soluble in

cold water. Fats, essential oils, ether and alcohol also dissolve

it. It is a bibasic acid, fuses at 70° C. (158° F.), and may be

rendered anhydrous by sublimation. There are 3 isomeric

modifications of it, determined by their action upon a ray of

polarized light.

 

Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—In large doses camphor is a

narcotic and irritant; in small ones, sedative, anodyne,

antispasmodic, diaphoretic, and anthelmintic. Very small doses

stimulate and large doses depress. Large doses cause oesophageal and

gastric pain, vomiting, slow and enfeebled and subsequently

intermittent pulse, dizziness, drowsiness, dimness of sight, pallid,

cold skin, muscular weakness, cyanosis, spasms, muscular rigidity,

and convulsions. Several deaths have resulted from its use, other

circumstances contributing somewhat to the fatal issue, but cases of

death in a healthy individual have been reported. Mental confusion

may follow its excessive use. Its effects in small doses are

transient, but are not followed by depression or exhaustion. It

exerts an influence on the brain and nervous system, exhilarating

and relieving pain, is an excitant to the vascular system, and

irritates mucous tissues which are in proximity with it. When given

in the solid form, it is capable of producing ulceration of the

gastric mucous membrane. It is used to allay nervous excitement,

subdue pain, arrest spasm, and sometimes to induce sleep. In the

delirium, watchfulness, tremors, and starting of the tendons in

typhoid conditions, it is of much utility as a nervo-stimulant.

Occipital headache, from mental overwork, is relieved by small

doses, and the external application of camphor. Large doses (grs.

xx) are required in maniacal excitement. In inflammatory affections,

as remittent and intermittent fevers, acute rheumatism, etc., it

acts beneficially as a diaphoretic and sedative; and is also

valuable in gout, neuralgia, dysmenorrhoea, after-pains, puerperal

convulsions, and painful diseases of the urinary organs, acting as a

sedative, anodyne, and antispasmodic. It is often advantageously

combined with opium in chordee, and hysteric nymphomania, and all

irritations of the sexual organs. It relieves the strangury caused

by the use of cantharides. By some physicians it is said to act as

an aphrodisiac, exciting the reproductive organs, causing

considerable heat in the urethra, and nocturnal emissions; others,

again, use it as an ant-aphrodisiac, and to diminish urino-genital

irritation. For the first purpose small doses are effectual; for the

second, large sedative doses are requisite. It is said to be an

antidote to poisoning by strychnine, and has been used in poisoning

from illuminating gas. An oleaginous injection of camphor in the

early stages of gonorrhoea often allays urethral irritation, as well

as the tenesmus caused by thread-worms, etc., when injected into the

rectum. It enters into many embrocations and liniments for

rheumatic, neuralgic, and deep-seated pains, cynanche tonsillaris,

contusions from blows, sprains, chilblains, chronic cutaneous

diseases, and as a stimulant for indolent and gangrenous ulcers. The

itching of smallpox pustules is said to be relieved by it. It has

been found beneficial in asthma and spasmodic cough, and the powder

may be used as a snuff for the relief of nervous headache, and

catarrh in its commencing stages. Camphor is a remedy of marked

value in many bowel troubles, and is usually used in combination

with pain-relieving agents for that purpose. Evidence is strong in

its favor as an agent in Asiatic cholera. The nervous manifestations

of la grippe seem to be controlled by small doses of camphor.

Spirits of camphor and camphorated oil are well known to allay the

pain attending acute mastitis, and to check the lacteal secretion.

The spirit, on cotton, sometimes allays toothache. The best form of

using an aqueous solution of this agent is the aqua camphorae. The

administration of opium will best neutralize the evil effects of an

overdose of camphor. Small and repeated doses of alcohol may also be

given. Dose of the powder, 1 to 10 grains; aqua camphorae flii to

fliv; spirits of camphor, 1 to 30 drops.

 

CAMPHORIC ACID is sedative and antiseptic. It has been lately

advocated as an efficient remedy for the night-sweats of pulmonary

consumption. It is considerably employed in 1 per cent solution in

catarrhal diseases, both acute and chronic, good results being

reported from its use in sore throat, acute nasal catarrh, acute

bronchitis, irritable bladder, cystitis (acute and chronic),

strangury, enuresis, and nocturnal seminal emissions. It has made

some impression for good in spasmodic states, as epilepsy, hysteria,

and chorea. For local use it may, if desired, be combined in

solution with borax, or boric acid. The dose is from 10 to 25 grains

in solution or in capsules. Solutions of from 1 to 4 per cent are

locally employed.

 

Specific Indications and Uses.— " Insomnia and restlessness, the pulse

being soft and tongue moist; diarrhoea " (Scudder). Low grades of

inflammation and fevers, particularly typhoid, with great

restlessness, morbid watchfulness, muttering delirium, subsultus,

dry skin, and quick, irritable pulse (Locke); strangury; urination

frequent, difficult, and tenesmic. For specific use 1/8 to 1 grain

doses. In minute doses in burning pain in stomach; dizziness,

nausea, and vomiting: weak, husky voice; cyanotic countenance, with

cold extremities.

 

Related Camphors and Camphor Oils.—Many essential or volatile oils,

when subjected to distillation, yield a product liquid at ordinary

temperatures, which is a hydrocarbon (usually of the terebenthene

class or series [C10H16]), often termed an elaeopten, and a portion

solid at ordinary temperature, an oxidation product known as a

stearopten. The latter often exists as a vegetable exudate, or may

be derived from vegetation by proper treatment. It has a higher

boiling point than the elaeopten. The stearoptens are known under

the general and elastic term camphors, and have the general

composition C10H16O, and, though obtained from many plants, it is

altogether probable that they are identical with laurel camphor.

 

BORNEO CAMPHOR. Camphol, Borneol, Malayan camphor, Camphyl alcohol,

Sumatra camphor, Barus camphor, Dryobalanops camphor.—Composition

C10H18O. Found under the bark and in fissures of the trunk of

Dryobalanops Camphora, Colebrooke (more) (Dryobalanops aromatica of

Gaertner), of the natural order Dipterocarpaceae. India, Sumatra,

and Borneo.

 

Borneo camphor contains 2 atoms more of hydrogen than common

camphor. It is an alcohol yielding ethers with acids. It requires a

heat of 198° C. (388° F.) to melt it, is less volatile, but denser

and harder than ordinary camphor; it boils at 211.6° C. (413° F.).

Its smell, solubility, and general appearance are like those of

common camphor, and it exerts a somewhat more feeble right-handed

rotary action upon polarized light. On account of its crystallizing

in the regular system, however, it is stated by Descloizeaux (1870)

and confirmed by Flückiger (1874), that it displays no colors under

the polarization microscope. Its taste differs from that of ordinary

camphor in being both camphoraceous and hot and peppery. It

crystallizes in small, transparent, regular, colorless, 6-sided

prisms and is converted into ordinary camphor when gently heated

with nitric acid of moderate strength, which causes a loss of 2

atoms of its hydrogen. It is naturally associated with an oil termed

bornéene (C10H16), which is isomeric with oil of turpentine and with

valerene, and which is removed by distillation in order to obtain

the camphor free from it. Dryobalanops camphor is a little heavier

than water and falls to the bottom, while the laurel variety floats.

It does not possess the gyratory movements of the laurel camphor;

has generally a tabular form; an amberous odor, and is usually

accompanied with foreign substances, among which are amorphous

resin, neither acid nor volatile, but which, when heated, gives out

an odor of colophony. Borneol may be made artificially by

hydrogenating laurel camphor. Borneo camphor is sold at an

excessively high price in the East and is never found in our markets.

 

NGAI CAMPHOR, Blumea camphor.—A camphor identical in composition

(C10H18O) with borneol, but different in turning the ray of

polarized light, as much to the left as borneol does to the right;

derived from a southeastern Asia composite plant, known to the

Chinese as Ngai, and to botanists as Blumea balsamifera, De Candolle

(more). By oxidation with nitric acid it yields a camphor identical

in composition with laurel camphor (C10H16O), but still retaining

its laevogyre behavior. It is prepared in Canton and the Hainan

Isle, and used by the Chinese as a medicine and in perfuming choice

Chinese inks. Its price being about tenfold higher than that of

common camphor, prevents its occurrence in European and American

commerce. Its physical appearance, after sublimation, is identical

with that of borneol.

 

Blumea lacera (more) is used in India as an insecticide. It yielded

Dymock, a pale-yellow essential oil of extraordinary left-rotating

power. Its density, at 26.6° C. (80° F.), is 0.9144.

 

CHAMPACA CAMPHOR.—Champacol (C17H30O). A new camphor from champaca

wood (more). Isolated by Merck (1893).

 

FORMOSA CAMPHOR OIL. Camphor oil of Formosa, Oleum camphorae (U. S.

P., 1870), Camphor oil.—This oil is drained off the crystals of

crude camphor in the preparation of the latter, and prepared to some

extent when camphor is refined. It is a brownish-colored liquid,

holding in solution quite a quantity of camphor, which crystallizes

out of the oil when the latter is subjected to a reduced

temperature. It has the taste of common camphor and a sassafras-

like, odor, by which it maybe readily distinguished from Borneo

camphor oil (Pharmacographia). It has a density of 0.940; its

boiling point is near 180.5° C. (357° F.). Like laurel camphor it is

dextrogyre in behavior. Flückiger (Pharmacognosie, 1891) mentions as

the constituents of this oil the following: Dipentene (cinene)

(C10H16), a hydrocarbon boiling at 182° C. (359.6° F.), capable of

yielding addition products with bromine (C10H16Br4), fusing point

126° C. (245.2° F.); also with hydrochloric acid (C10H16[HCl]2), and

with water (C10H16[H2O]3). Besides, Schimmel & Co. (Report, Oct.,

1888) made known the following constituents: Pinene, phellandrene

(both C10H16), cineol (C10H18O), safrol, eugenol, and a considerable

amount of a hydrocarbon, identical with that obtainable from cubebs.

 

BORNEO CAMPHOR OIL. Camphor oil of Borneo, Sumatran camphor oil,

Bornéene.—An oil derived from the tapped or felled trees

(Dryobalanops Camphora, Colebrooke) which yield Borneo camphor. It

has been said to be secreted in such great quantities in old trees,

and to exert such great pressure as to disrupt the trunk of the

tree, the bursting causing a report like that from a cannon. A

similar phenomenon is said to take place in the tree furnishing

copaiva balsam (Pharmacographia). Bornéene (C10H16) is isomeric with

pure turpentine, and is a volatile, viscid, brownish-red oil,

composed of borneol and resin dissolved in bornéene, a liquid having

a turpentine-like odor, and identical with the valerene of valerian

oil. It does not deposit Borneo camphor on standing even when

subjected to a very low temperature. In its optical properties it is

dextrogyre.

 

Camphor Preparations.—VINUM CAMPHORATUM. Wine of camphor.—This is a

turbid, whitish fluid, prepared according to the German

Pharmacopoeia, by dissolving 1 part of camphor in 1 part of alcohol

and incorporating gradually, and with agitation, 3 parts of mucilage

of acacia and 45 parts of white wine. Its use is the same as that of

spirits of camphor, and it must he shaken before dispensing and

administering.

 

CAMPHORA CARBOLISATA. Camphora phenolata, Carbolated camphor, Phenol

camphor, Camphorated phenol.—An oily or colorless liquid, having a

camphoraceous odor, practically insoluble in glycerin and water, but

soluble in alcohol, fixed oils and ether. Hager prepares it by

dissolving 100 parts of camphor and. 36 parts of carbolic acid in 4

parts of alcohol: Bufalini, by allowing 2 parts of camphor and 1

part of phenol to liquefy. A local anaesthetic and antiseptic. Ten-

drop doses of an olive-oil solution have been given in catarrh of

the stomach, and the same applied has arrested erysipelas. Wounds,

ulcers, boils, and herpetic skin affections, as well as diphtheric

membranes, have been painted with it, and uterine leucorrhoea

locally treated with it, with asserted relief. It is said to relieve

the pain of ingrown nails and dental caries.

 

CAMPHORA SALICYLATA. Salicylated camphor.—Heat, by means of a water-

bath, to 90° C. (194° F.), a mixture of 65 parts of salicylic acid

and 84 parts of camphor until liquefaction takes place (Guirleo). An

oily fluid, devoid of color, and becoming a solid opaque mass which,

when triturated, assumes an unctuous consistence. Fixed and volatile

oils dissolve it, while it is much less soluble in water or

glycerin. Useful, locally, in syphilitic phagedena and ulcerations.

Suppositories are sometimes made of it by combining it with 10 to 15

parts of petrolatum, with a little paraffin added to give hardness.

 

 

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