Camphor
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Camphor. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
kam'fer, a whitish, semitransparent, oily substance, obtained from the wood of the camphor tree. It has a peculiar, penetrating odor, and a tough, crystalline structure. The world's supply is obtained chiefly from Japan and Formosa. Chips obtained from the root, trunk, and branches of the laurel or camphor tree are heated in closed retorts and exposed to the action of hot steam. The camphor is tried out in the form of a vapor and crystallizes on the upper part of the retort. It is sent to market usually in a crude state, and refined elsewhere. Camphor is known in science as a solid, essential oil. It floats on water. It may be dissolved in alcohol, but not readily in water. It burns with a white smoky flame. It is used in medicine, especially in cases of gout and rheumatism. It is a valuable ingredient, also, in certain liniments. The odor of camphor is obnoxious to insects. Camphor balls are stored with furs and woolens to prevent the attacks of moths. They are useful in a cabinet of insects or bird skins. Camphor wood is used also to construct insect-proof chests in which to store clothing. Formosa produces 6,000,000 pounds of camphor a year. Large groves have been discovered recently. The production is a government monopoly. The United States imports 2,000,000 pounds yearly, chiefly from Formosa and the East Indies. The world requires about 8,000,000 pounds yearly.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a powerful diffusible stimulant and antispasmodic, extensively used in medicine and in the manufacture of celluloid and explosives. Borneo or Sumatra camphor is a kind of camphor made from Dryobalanops aromatica, or Dryobalanops camphora, a genus of the order Dipteraceæ, or Dipterads. It differs from ordinary camphor in having six-sided crystals. In chemistry, the symbol of camphor is C10H16O. It is called also laurel camphor. Camphor is obtained by distilling with water the leaves and wood of the camphor-tree, Camphora officinarum, formerely called Laurus camphora. It is a solid white volatile crystalline mass, tough and difficult to powder, has a peculiar odor; thrown on water it revolves and is slightly soluble. It is very soluble in alcohol, ether, and strong acetic acid. It has a dextro-rotary action on polarized light. Many essential oils deposit an inactive variety. Most of the camphor of commerce comes from Formosa. It is used to preserve natural history collections and cloths in drawers from the ravages of insects. 1
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Aiton's wrote in 1910 that Formosa produced 6,000,000 pounds a year under a government monopoly, natural camphor from Cinnamomum trees was almost the only source; the Japanese colonial monopoly on Taiwan collapsed with the end of Japanese rule in 1945, and today the great bulk of the world's camphor is made synthetically from turpentine (pinene), a route developed commercially in the early twentieth century. The industrial uses Collier's listed in 1921 have largely gone too: celluloid, which camphor plasticised, was displaced by later plastics, and smokeless-powder makers moved on. Medically the change is sharpest — camphor is no longer given as an internal "diffusible stimulant", and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned camphorated oil and limited consumer products to 11 percent camphor in 1980 after poisonings, especially of children. It survives as a topical rub and liniment ingredient, much as described, while mothproofing has mostly passed to naphthalene and paradichlorobenzene.
Written for this edition, 2026.