SC - camphor

[James and/or Nancy Gilly]

At 21:59 25-1-98 +0000, Stefan li Rous wrote:
>What *is* camphor? I thought it was a petroleum product. How would
>they have produced it in the Middle Ages? How else was it used in
>the Middle Ages?


Says the *Britannica*:

         camphor, an organic compound of penetrating, somewhat
     musty aroma, used for many centuries as a component of incense
     and as a medicinal.  Modern uses of camphor have been as a
     plasticizer for cellulose nitrate and as an insect repellent,
     particularly for moths.  The molecular formula is C10H16O
     [C-ten H-sixteen O].
         Camphor occurs in the camphot laurel, *Cinnamomum camphora*,
     common in China, Taiwan, and Japan....

(*Encyclopaedia Britannica*, 15th edition, Vol II, p 492.  Copyright 1977 by
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.)


Alasdair mac Iain

- -----------------------------
James and/or Nancy Gilly
katiemorag at worldnet.att.net

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