the.com/camphor
a waxy crystal that smells like medicine and once preserved both the dead and the dynamite
means A white, waxy, strong-smelling crystalline substance derived from the camphor tree (or made synthetically), used in medicines, moth repellents, and once in the making of celluloid and explosives.
from The word drifted west through medieval Latin 'camphora' and Arabic 'kāfūr,' which the Arabs likely borrowed from Sanskrit 'karpūra' — the name for this fragrant substance in the world where the camphor tree grows. Each language passed the crystal along like a traveler's curiosity, the name shifting at every border but always pointing to the same pale, pungent treasure prized in trade across Asia and the Mediterranean.
- explosive past
- Key ingredient in early smokeless gunpowder
- film history
- Made celluloid, the first plastic and movie film
- sublimes
- Goes solid to vapor, skipping liquid entirely
- tree source
- Distilled from evergreen laurels in Asia
- old medicine
- Banned by FDA for ingestion in 1980
camphor tree of taiwan — cinnamomum camphora native to taiwan, historically the world's largest camphor producer in the 1900s
karpoor pooja ritual — hindu ceremonial burning of camphor in temples across india, essential in daily aarti worship
camphorated oil balm — vicks vaporub, created in 1905, contains camphor as its active ingredient for cough relief