Camphor is a plant product with a long medicinal and religious life, and in the Atlantic folk traditions it is used for cooling, for protection and for keeping a condition from taking hold. The corpus already catalogues camphor as a plant (herbs.json) and as an incense ingredient (incense_resins.json); this entry is not a second catalogue of the substance but a record of what these traditions do with it, which is a different claim from what the plant is. In the Caribbean it is also used in the preparation of protective and devotional objects, and in the southern United States as a household medicine before it was a magical material.
It is added in small quantity to a bath or a wash, rubbed on the skin or the temples as a cooling medicine, kept in a dish in a room to keep the air and the influence clean, and used to 'cool' a person who has been crossed and is running hot. In some accounts it is carried in a hand. It is strong-smelling and volatile, and the traditions use it sparingly.
Camphor is toxic if swallowed and dangerous to infants and small children, and the older household practice of a camphor bag worn round a baby's neck has killed children; the corpus records the substance's use and its hazard together. It is also volatile and flammable, and should not be used near a flame or in a closed room at strength.
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