Mr. P. L. Bryant' lecture under the auspicies of the China Society lof Science and Art, nat the Royal Asiatic Society's Balli Fri Jday afternoon, revealed some interesting facts concerning the manufacture and uses of the camphor and its by-products. Camphor, the lecturer explained, was found: in the tree usually of considerable age.
This substance in the tree was y similar to the presence of uric in the joints of the human being, and the tree did its best to) }get the substance out of its system. In trees of one hundred years the! Jcamphor was found in crotches near the roots. Camphor was found, originally in China, Formosa, and also parts of Japan. Its first use was probably the preservation of the [bodies of the dead. Its modern uses were almost impossible to give in detail on account of their number, those jin medicines and as an antiseptic being especially notable. The price Jof camphor had within recent times risen rapidly and in a short period of two weeks the price. had been known to rise from $70 to $200 per picul In China s great diffieutly had been found in the purchase of trees owing to the deep veneration with which they were held among, the Chinese. Another great dificulty in -China wai-the tendency of the Chinese to adulterate their Products, and thie abuse was carried beyond all bounds. Various substances were added—tallow, and even beans or sand.
Mr. Bryant went on the apeak of the various chemical products
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.