MABKEIY. — SULPHUR PETROLEUMS. 5 



C12H24, boiling point 216'^. 2. In an examination of a hydrocarbon 

 naphtlia obtained as a product of the destructive distillation of a lime 

 soap prepared from menhaden oil, Warren and Storer* discovered the 

 series C„H2„ + o, beginning with C5H12, members of the aromatic 

 series including benzol, toluol, xylol, and isocumol, and a series of 

 the general formula C„H2„ as follows : rutylene, CiqH^o, margarylene, 

 C11H20, laurylene, C12II04, identical with the hydrocarbons previously 

 separated by Warren from Pennsylvania petroleum. Warren and 

 Storer also submitted Rangoon petroleum to prolonged distillation, 

 and they succeeded in proving the presence in this oil of rutvlene, 

 margarylene, laurylene, cocinylene, and naphthalene. 



As early as 1842, Pelletier and Walther separated a hydrocarbon 

 from the " steinol " of Amiano boiling at 80°-88°, to which they 

 assigned the formula C7H14. A similar product with the properties of 

 heptylene was obtained by Mabery and Smith t as one of the products 

 in the sulphuric acid extract from the refining of Ohio burning oil 

 distillate. 



More recently Engler J subjected menhaden oil to distillation under 

 a pressure of ten atmospheres, and from the distillates thus obtained 

 hydrocarbons were separated which proved to be identical with those 

 contained in natural petroleum. These products included the light 

 constituents of gasoline, the hydrocarbons of which burning oil is 

 composed, the heavy oils, and paraffine. Engler, therefore, believes in 

 the origin of petroleum from the decomposition of animal remains. 

 The hydrocarbons distilling above 160°, referred by Pelouze and 

 Cahours to the series C,jH2,j + 2 D^ay really be naphtenes or similar 

 bodies. In most petroleums more recently examined, it is believed 

 that the unsaturated hydrocarbons are not present in the crude oil, but 

 when found in the products of distillation have resulted from decom- 

 position. Beilstein and Kurbatoff stated that the se<"ies C^Ha^i ^^ the 

 Caucasus petroleum does not consist of the homologues of ethylene. 

 In the lower fractions of Galician oil, Lachowicz obtained no reaction 

 with bromine even after long standing. Above 200° the ready absorp- 

 tion of bromine indicated the presence of unsaturated hydrocarbons ; 

 but it was attributed to decomposition. On the other hand, Engler § 

 found that petroleums from Alsace (Pechelbronn), Oelheim (Hanover), 



* Mem. Amer. Acad. (N. S.), IX. 177. 



t These Proceedings, XXV. 222. 



I Ber. der deutsch. chem. Gesellsch;, 1888, p. 1816. 



§ Zeit. Ang. Chem., 1888, p. 73. 



