oses only from the _Laurus Camphora_, which
abounds in China and Japan, as well as from a tree which grows in
Sumatra and Borneo, called in the country _kapur barus_, from the
name of the place where it is most common. The camphor exists, ready
formed, in these vegetables between the wood and the bark; but it
does not exude spontaneously. On cleaving the tree _Laurus
Sumatrensis (Qy. Dryobalanops Camphora)_, masses of camphor are
found in the pith. The wood of the Laurus is cut into small pieces
and put, with plenty of water, into large iron boilers, which are
covered with an earthen capital or dome, lined within with rice
straw. As the water boils, the camphor rises with the steam, and
attaches itself as a sublimate to the stalks, under the form of
granulations of a grey color. In this state it is picked off the
straw and packed up for exportation to Europe."--(" Dictionary of
Arts and Manufactures.")

The price of camphor at Canton in July, 1850, was from fourteen to
fifteen dollars per picul.

Cinchona.--Peruvian or Jesuit's Bark--One of the most valuable and
powerful astringents and tonics used in medicine, is the produce of
several species of cinchona, natives of the Andes, from 11 north
latitude to 20 south latitude, at elevations varying from 1,200 to
10,000 feet above the level of the sea, and in a dry rocky soil. There
are at least twelve trees which are supposed to furnish the barks of
commerce, and great obscurity prevails as to the species whence the
various kinds of cinchona bark are derived. The names of yellow, red,
and pale bark have been very vaguely applied, and are by no means well
defined. Dr. Lindley mentions twenty-six varieties; of which
twenty-one are well known. The barks are met with either in thick,
large, flat pieces, or in thinner pieces, which curl inwards during
drying, and are called quilled.

Quinine is one of the most important of the vegetable alkaline
bitters. It was first discovered by Vauquelin, in 1811, and its
preparation on a large scale pointed out by Pelletier and Caventon in
1820. It is obtained by boiling the yellow bark (_Cinchona_) in water
and sulphuric acid, and then treating it with lime and alcohol, when
the quinine is precipitated in the form of a white powder. Upwards of
120,000 ounces are made annually in Paris.

Cinchona, or the Peruvian bark, was gathered to the amount of two
million dollars in one year r