The physiological action of borneol : a contribution to the pharmacology of the camphor group / by Ralph Stockman.

Date:
[1888?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The physiological action of borneol : a contribution to the pharmacology of the camphor group / by Ralph Stockman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    In Borneo it is used chiefly for embalming the Batta chiefs. In China it is employed as a stimulant, as an aphrodisiac, and in ophthal- mia, a single crystal being put under each eyelid1. Ngai camphor, obtained from the Blumea balsamifera D. C, is met with crystalline and in granules. It has the same chemical composition as Borneo camphor, and is also slightly heavier than water, but its alcoholic solution rotates the plane of polarised light to the left. In price it is intermediate between Borneo and laurel camphors. It is used in China as a medicine and for perfuming the finer sorts of Chinese ink. The specimen which I used was obtained from the Hanbury collection in Kew Museum2. Borneol from oil of turpentine was first obtained by Armstrong and Tilden from colophene, a product of the distillation of the oil with sulphuric acid. Chemically it is identical with Borneo camphor, but its alcoholic solution has no action on polarised light. The specimen which I used was in laminar crystals, pure white, and having a mixed odour of camphor and terebene. It sunk in water, and its alcoholic solution was inert as regards polarised light. It melted at 199° and boiled at 211°, which numbers, allowing for slight experimental errors, are the same as those obtained by Pelouze for Borneo camphor. The investigation was originally undertaken with the view of deter- mining whether the exaggerated value set upon Borneo camphor by the Chinese is to be accounted for by any marked difference in action as compared with laurel camphor, or whether its high price is simply due 1 For an account of the natural history of Borneo camphor see Martius. Licbig's Annalen, xxv. 305, xxvu. 44, 1838. Pelouze. Comptes Rend. xi. 365, 1840. De Vriese. Pharm. Journ. and Trans., xn. [1] 22, 1852. Hooker. Ibid. p. 300. Von Kessel. Sitzungsb. der Wien. Akad., vni. 418, 1852. Fliickiger. Neues Rep. f. Pharm., xvn. 28, 1868. Kachler. Liebig's Annalen, 197, 86, 1879. Me Ewan. Pharm. Journ. and Trans., March 28, 1885. Husemann. Die Pflanzenstoffe, 2nd Ed. 1882. Fliickiger and Hanbury. Pharmacographia. Wood and Bache. United States Dispensatory. 2 Plowman. Pharm. Journ. and Trans., iv. [3], 710, 1874. Hanbury. Ibid, and Science Papers, p. 393. Pharmacographia. Fliickiger. Buchner's Rep. f. Pharm., xxm. 1874, and Pharm. Jour. Ap. 18, 1874. 3 Armstrong and Tilden. Journ. Chem. Soc, xxxv. 733, 1879. Lascelles-Scott. Pharm. Journ. and Trans.> Oct. 1886. Hodgkin. Ibid. Discussion.