1S23J Mr, Chamherlain on Napthaline. 135 



ancient graves, that shaggy animals of the elephant tribe now 

 imbedded in icebergs, were once peculiar to a northern climate, 

 and that similar forms belonging to the same primary types, like 

 lions and lynxes, could live in very different climates, such an 

 explanation could not, however, be extended to the products of 

 vegetation. For reasons which the physiology of plants 

 explains, palms, and arboriform monocotyledones cannot sustain 

 the northern cold, and in the geological problem we here speak 

 of, it seems difficult to me to separate plants and animals. The 

 same explanation must be applied to both. 



Towards the end of this paper, I have combined uncertain 

 hypothetical suppositions with facts collected from the most 

 different parts of the world The philosophical knowledge of 

 nature rises above a mere description of nature. It does not 

 consist in a sterile aggregation of isolated observations. It may 

 sometimes be allowed, therefore, to the curious and ever-active 

 mind of man, to look back upon the past, to imagine what cannot 

 be clearly known, and to amuse himself with the ancient, and, 

 under many forms, returning mysteries, of geogony. 



Article VIII. 



Observations on Napthalinej with an Account of the Process h/ 

 which it is obtained, and of the Mode of crystallizing it. By 

 Mr. F. C. Chamberlain, Agent to the Chartered Gas Com- 

 pany. 



(To the Editor oiihQ Annals of Philosophy,) 



SIR, 



For the purpose of procuring napthaline, the coal tar formed 

 during the preparation of carburetted hydrogen gas is to be sub- 

 mitted to distillation. When a fourth part of the product 

 intended to be obtained has been distilled, it is found to con- 

 sist of a volatile spirit, ammonia, and water, holding a portioii^ 

 of napthaline in solution; this can only be separated either by 

 very long standing, or by another and very different kind of 

 distillation. 



By continuing the operation, a dense oil is obtained, at the 

 bottom of which napthaline may be observed ; after this it 

 increases gradually in quantity until about half the product is 

 distilled ; if the remaining half be received as it comes over in 

 three separate vessels, it is found that the first portion does not 

 contain a great quantity of napthaline ; from the second, little or 

 none is obtained, even by very long standing ; but the third 

 portion contains so much napthaline that the last few gallons 



