118 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



Since Engler* discovered tetramethylbutane or diisobutyl, boiling 

 point 108.5°, as one of the products in the distillation of fats under 

 pressure, with the possibility that this body might be present in Ohio 

 petroleum, we submitted the portions of this petroleum distilling between 

 100° and 115° to prolonged distillation within single degree limits. But 

 after treatment with nitric acid, no distillate collected in this vicinity. 

 Having in hand a series of fractions near 135°-136°, the boiling point 

 of hexahydroraesitylene, or mononaphtene, they were carried through a 

 longr course of distillations, and the small amount remaining within these 

 limits was examined with the aid of fuming nitric acid and fuming sul- 

 phuric acid, but no sulphonic acid was formed, and the very small amount 

 of nitro compound was not sufficient for a melting point. 



In view of the fact that the series of petroleum hydrocarbons boiling 

 approximately at 38°, 68°, and 98°, have received little attention since 

 they were first discovered by Warren, I shall soon undertake an exam- 

 ination of these bodies, and also of petroleum nonane to which Warren 

 assigned the boiling point 151°. 



* Ber. der deutsch. chem. Gesellsch., 1889, p. 592. 



