On the Composition of the Petroleum of Rangoon. 125 
less and tasteless, but possessed of a fragrant odour. It is re- 
markably fluid, and is the lightest liquid known under the ordi- 
nary pressure, having a sp. gr. of only .655. It boils at 110°, dis- 
tilling unchanged. Like paraffine, it resists the strongest acids 
and alkalies, and burns with a bright white flame without smoke. 
In the same memoir, Dr Retcnenzacu states, that, proceeding 
on the usual idea that native naphtha was a product of destruc- 
tive distillation, he examined it with a view to detect in it the 
new substance eupione, but could not succeed in obtaining a 
trace of it. He ascribed his failure to the difficulty of procuring 
genuine naphtha, and conjectured that oil of turpentine had been 
employed to adulterate the naphtha examined by him, which 
possessed in a high degree the peculiar odour and other proper- 
ties of that oil. He returned to the subject in a third memoir, 
published in 1833, in which he stated, that he had carefully exa- 
mined the best naphtha he could procure, but had been unable to 
discover in it the smallest quantity either of paraffine or of eupione. 
Struck with this result, he began to think that naphtha might 
not, after all, be really a product of destructive distillation. He 
distilled large quantities of brown coal along with water, conse- 
quently at 212°, at which temperature no destructive distillation 
could occur, and obtained considerable quantities of a naphtha, 
which agreed in all its characters with that which he had previ- 
ously examined. It contained neither paraffine, eupione, nor any 
other product of destructive distillation, and, to his great sur- 
prise, presented the characteristic odour of oil of turpentine. 
He then proceeded to compare together the naphtha of com- 
merce, the naphtha prepared by himself, which, of course, had not 
been adulterated, and pure oil of turpentine; and the result of 
the comparison was, that these three bodies, in sp. gr., in their 
boiling point, and in their chemical properties, exactly coincided. 
From this remarkable coincidence he drew the conclusion, that 
the naphtha (native) which he had examined was not adulterat- 
ed, but genuine ; and that it was nothing more than the oil of. 
