3G0 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



0.1469 gram of the solid gave 0.4581 gram COo and 0.1947 gram ILO. 



Calculated for C3,|II,;2. Kiiuiid. 



C 84.31 80.04 



H 14.69 14.82 



Since only two per cent of the original parairine taken for distillation 

 remained as a residue at 350", the solid hydrocarbons which compose the 

 main body of paratline produced in the I'efinery are evidently members of 

 the series C„lIg„+2. They do not contain oxygen, as fro(piently stated, — 

 at least the hydrocarbons that can be distilled. It is not reasonable to 

 assume that they have been formed by cracking from other constituents, 

 since such decompositions give rise to hydrocarbons of lower molecular 

 weights. It is well known that paraffine may be decomposed completely 

 by heat when ex[)osed to air into lower hydrocarbons. In mass we 

 have found that it may be distilled indefinitely by exclusion of air, hut it 

 cannot be distilled in air without decomposition. 



Thorpe and Young * subjected shale paraifine to distillation under 

 pressure in a bent tube so arranged that the paraffine could be repeatedly 

 distilled. The distillation was continued until the solid was converted 

 into bodies that remained li(juid at ordinary temperatures. This liquid 

 proved to consist of two series of hydrocarbons ; of the series CnH2n+2i 

 the hydrocarbons C-sIIjo to CiiHoj were identified, and of the series 

 CnlIo„ the ethylene hydrocarbons, Cjllio to Cnlloe. 



It is our intention to examine the products of the distillation of paraf- 

 fine in air to ol)serve the changes in cracking. It is an interesting ques- 

 tion as to whether any relation exists between the paraffine hydrucarbons 

 and the methylenes with reference to the formation of these bodies in 

 their organic origin, and whether the series are interconvertible by 

 natural agencies. 



IIydrocakhon's in Commercial Paraffine. 



* Ber. (]. deutsch. Gesellsch., 5, 556 (1872). 



