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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
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CAMPHOR, n. Properly cafor. A solid concrete juice or exudation, from the laurus camphora, or Indian laurel-tree, a large tree growing wild in Borneo, Sumatra, &c. It is a whitish translucent substance, of granular or foliated fracture, and somewhat unctuous to the feel. It has a bitterish aromatic taste, and a very fragrant smell, and is a powerful diaphoretic.
CAMPHOR, v.t. To impregnate or wash with camphor.
A tough, white,
aromatic resin, or gum, obtained from different species of the
Laurus family, esp. from Cinnamomum camphora (the
Laurus camphora of Linnæus.). Camphor,
C10H16O, is volatile and fragrant, and is
used in medicine as a diaphoretic, a stimulant, or
sedative.
A gum resembling ordinary camphor,
obtained from a tree (Dryobalanops camphora) growing in
Sumatra and Borneo; -- called also Malay camphor,
camphor of Borneo, or borneol. See
Borneol.
* The name camphor is also applied to a number of bodies of similar appearance and properties, as cedar camphor, obtained from the red or pencil cedar (Juniperus Virginiana), and peppermint camphor, or menthol, obtained from the oil of peppermint. Camphor oil (Chem.), name variously given to certain oil-like products, obtained especially from the camphor tree. -- Camphor tree, a large evergreen tree (Cinnamomum Camphora) with lax, smooth branches and shining triple-nerved lanceolate leaves, probably native in China, but now cultivated in most warm countries. Camphor is collected by a process of steaming the chips of the wood and subliming the product. To
impregnate or wash with camphor; to camphorate.
[R.]
Tatler. | ||||||||