The greater part of the camphor of Western commerce is obtained by distillation from the wood of a tree, (Jamphora officinarum, belonging to the Natural Order Lauraceoe. It is produced most largely in the Island of Formosa, the area of production being a narrow belt of debateable land separating the Chinese settlement from the territory held of the aboriginal inhabitants of the island. The preparation of the product is consequently attended with considerable danger, owing to the mutual jealousies and encroachments of the natives and the Chinese. The crude and primitive process of distillation is thus described by Mr E. C. Taintor in his; Trade Report of Tamsui, 1869 :—“A long wooden trough, frequently hollowed out from the trunk of a tree, is fixed over a furnace and protected by a coating of clay. Water is poured into it, and a board perforated with numerous small holes is luted over it. Over these holes the chips [of the camphor-wood] are placed and covered with earthenware pots. Heat being applied in the furnace, the steam passes through the chips, carrying with it the camphor, which condenses in the form of minute white crystals in the upper part of the pots.” It is collected and stored iu vats to await exportation, during which time it gives out from 3 to 4 per cent, of uncrystallizable camphor oil of a yellowish colour, which has been suggested for use in medicine and the arts in the same way as spirits of turpentine. In addition to the supplies obtained from Formosa, a considerable quantity of camphor is now shipped from Japan. Japanese unrefined camphor is of a lighter colour than that obtained from Formosa, and commands a higher price in the market. Crude camphor is submitted to a process of refining by sublimation from a small quantity of sand, charcoal, iron-filings, or lime. The operation is conducted in glass vessels of peculiar form, to the upper part of which the sublimate adheres. It requires to be conducted with great care on account of the peculiarly inflammable nature of the product, and the heat must be carefully regulated to produce a solid compact cake.

Borneo camphor, or Barus camphor, is a variety differing entirely in its source, being the produce of Drydbalanops Camphora, and also somewhat removed in its chemical constitution aud physical properties from the ordinary variety. It is obtained in its concrete form in fissures in old trees, which are cut down and split up in search of it. The tree is a native of the Malay peninsula, and is found chiefly in certain parts of Borneo and Sumatra. Borneo camphor is extravagantly prized by the Chinese, who readily pay one hundred times more for this variety than for ordinary camphor.

A third variety of camphor, scarcely known beyond China, but there called Ngai camphor, has been ascertained by the late Mr D. Hanbury to be the product, in part at least, of Blumea balsamifera. In chemical composition it is the same as Borneo camphor, but differs from it iu respect of odour, greater hardness, and higher volatility. In China it occupies in respect of value an intermediate place between ordinary and Borneo camphor.

Camphor is extensively employed in medicine both internally and externally as a stimulant, but its chief medicinal use is in the preparation of liniments, into the composition of many of which it enters. It has a vulgar reputation as a prophylactic, on which account it is in great demand during serious epidemics. It possesses properties invaluable to naturalists and others for keeping furs, skins, and other animal substances free from moths; and it similarly preserves cabinets of insects from attack. A very large quantity of camphor is consumed in India, and generally throughout the East.