L. TECHNOLOGY. 469 



every trace of odor will be made to disappear. 14 C, 

 CXCVII.,i.,96. 



DEODORIZING PETROLEUM. 



It is said that solar oil and petroleum can be deprived of 

 their offensive smell by keeping them for two or three days in 

 contact with a small quantity of chloride of lime ; and that, 

 after the lime settles, the oil can be poured off perfectly clear. 

 The illuminating power of the oil is said not to be diminished, 

 and the smell is that of a pleasant ether. 10 C\ March 1, 59. 



NEW METHOD OF RECTIFYING PETROLEUM. 



It is announced that a French chemist has succeeded in 

 discovering a process for rectifying petroleum, by the addi- 

 tion of a small quantity of a certain chemical product (not 

 named) to the liquid before distilling, by which means an oil 

 is obtained without any odor, even when burning, and the 

 point of inflammability of which is so low that it must be 

 heated to 177 before ignition occurs. The volatile gas, usu- 

 ally so readily disengaged from mineral oils, becomes so fixed 

 that no evaporation takes place, and consequently the danger 

 of fire and explosion is reduced to its minimum. The oils 

 thus prepared, it is stated, can be made into soap, or can be 

 mixed with vegetable oils, and burned like colza in carcel 

 lamps. The soap made by this new form of petroleum oil is 

 said to be very efficacious in diseases of the skin, and is also 

 applicable to the destruction of insects. Articles washed with 

 this are claimed to be ever afterward free from attacks by 

 moths. This promises almost too much ; but if the results at 

 all approach the claims made for this oil, a very important 

 advance will have been made in the manufacture of a safe 

 burning fluid.* 3 i?, February 3, 224. 



PURIFICATION OF OLIVE-OIL. 



The best quality of olive-oil is refined by preparing large, 

 shallow tin boxes, with holes pierced in the bottom, which is 

 then covered w T ith a thin sheet of wadding. Four, five, or 

 more of these boxes are placed on frames one above the other ; 

 and the oil, being poured in at the top box, soaks through the 

 wadding and drops to the next box, and thus on to the last, 

 * We are subsequently informed that the substance in question is amyl-alcohol. 



