NAPHTHALENE 



NAPIER 



385 



in cheap benzoline or sponge lamps ; but its use in 

 this way lias happily been greatly restricted, if 

 not quite superseded, by the low price at which 

 petroleum and paraffin oils have for some years 

 been obtainable. The light naphthas are also used 

 for extracting the perfumes of flowers and plants, 

 and the oil from various seeds. Gasoline is em- 

 ployed exclusively for carburetting air-gas. The 

 bulk of the coal-tar naphtha, and much of the shale 

 and petroleum spirit, are employed as solvents in 

 the manufacture of india-rubber and gutta-percha 

 goods. They are also solvents of wax, and fatty 

 and resinous bodies generally, and are so used in 

 refining the best qualities of paraffin wax. Large 

 quantities are consumed in naphtha, torch, and 

 other flaring lamps for outside use. They are also 

 used as a substitute for turpentine in the prepara- 

 tion of paints ; and in Scotland the solvent action 

 of shale spirit is turned to account in the prepara- 

 tion of an anti-damp or stone- and timber-preserving 

 fluid called Alexinoton. A considerable percentage 

 of paraffin wax is dissolved and held in solution by 

 the spirit ; and if this liquid be applied to freestone, 

 brick, or wood, it passes into the pores of the mate- 

 rial, and the spirit rapidly evaporating leaves the 

 wax permanently in the stone or wood, so that 

 water cannot be absorbed by it. While for these 

 various purposes all the naphthas produced in 

 Britain fimf a ready market, in America and 

 Russia petroleum spirit is made in such quantities 

 that it is impossible to find profitable outlets for it 

 all ; and although large quantities in many petro- 

 leum refineries are consumed as fuel under the 

 stills, yet much of the crude naphtha has to be 

 burned in waste pita to get rid of it. 



Xapllthalene, C,,,H ( , is a solid substance ob- 

 tained from Coal-tar (q.v.). It forms thin, trans- 

 parent, brilliant plates with a pearly lustre and 

 unctuous to the touch. It melts at 176(80C.) 

 and boils at 422 (217 C.), but it readily sublimes 

 at a much lower temperature. Although not very 

 inflammable, it is used ( as in the Albo-carlmn light ) 

 to increase the illuminating power of coal-gas, the 

 naphthalene being placed in a metal receiver heated 

 by the gas-flame, and the illuminating gas passed 

 slowly through. A smoky but brilliant light is thus 

 obtained which under some circumstances may be 

 useful. Naphthalene is of most importance from a 

 scientific standpoint. Its molecule of C^Hj, may be 

 regarded as made up of two aromatic nuclei, having 

 two atoms of carbon in common ; but for further 

 information on this point, see AROMATIC SERIES. 

 Naphthalen^ forms an extensive series of derivatives 

 in which one or more atoms of hydrogen are replaced 

 by NO 2 chlorine, bromine, &c. 



Xapier, the chief port and city of the provincial 

 district of Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, on the east 

 coast of the North Island. Port Almriri (or Scinde 

 Island), where most of the wholesale stores are 

 situated, is within the municipal Ixiundary. A 

 railway, intended eventually to connect with Well- 

 ington, was open to Woodville (97 miles) in 1889. 

 The harbour has been deepened in order to accom- 

 modate large vessels. There is a considerable ex- 

 port of timber and wool, tinned and frozen meat. 

 Tin' value of the exports in some years greatly 

 "xn-c.U a million sterling (mainly wool). Pop. of 

 Napier, which is the seat of a bishop (1891 ), 8341. 



Napier, SIR CHARLES, English admiral, was 

 cousin to the hero of Sind and the historian of 

 the Peninsular war, and was born 6th March 

 1786, at Merchiston Hall, near Falkirk. At 

 thirteen he went to sea as a naval volunteer. In 

 1808 he received the command of the Recruit, 18 

 guns, and had his thigh broken by a bullet. He 

 kept up a running light in the West Indies with a 

 French line-of-battle ship, and assisted in her 

 337 



capture. This obtained him a post captaincy ; 

 but being thrown out of active service, he served 

 ashore as a volunteer in the Peninsular army, and 

 was wounded at Busacp. Commanding the lhames 

 in 181 1, he inflicted an incredible amount of damage 

 upon the enemy in the Mediterranean. In 1814 he 

 leu the way in the hazardous ascent and descent 

 of the Potomac ; and he took an active part in the 

 operations against Baltimore. In 1829 he received 

 the command of the Galatea, a 42-gun frigate, and 

 was employed ' on particular service ' on the coast of 

 Portugal. Becoming acquainted with the leaders 

 of the Constitutional party, he accepted the com- 

 mand of the fleet of the young queen ; and by 

 defeating the Miguelite fleet he concluded the war, 

 and placed Donna Maria on the throne. He was 

 made admiral-in-chief of the Portuguese navy, and 

 attempted to remodel it ; but official and corrupt 

 influence was too strong for him, and he returned 

 to England. In the war between the Porte and 

 Mehemet Ali he organised a land force, with 

 which he stormed Sidon and defeated Ibrahim 

 Pasha among the heights of Mount Lebanon. He 

 took part in the naval attack on Acre, blockaded 

 Alexandria, and concluded a convention with 

 Mehemet AIL In 1847, now a K.C.B., he received 

 the command of the Channel fleet. When the 

 Russian war broke out he was sent out to command 

 the Baltic fleet ; but the capture of Bomarsund 

 failed to realise the high expectations formed, and 

 he was deprived of his command. He twice sat in 

 parliament, for Marylelwne and Southwark, and, 

 until his death at his Hampshire seat, Merchiston 

 Hall, November 6, 1860, he laboured to reform the 

 naval administration. See his Life and Correspond- 

 ence (1862). 



Xapier, SIR CHARLES JAMES, the conqueror of 

 Sind, was great-grandson of the fifth Lord Napier 

 and a descendant of Napier of Merchiston. He 

 was born at Westminster, 10th August 1782, and, 

 having received a commission in his twelfth year, 

 served in Ireland during the rebellion. He com- 

 manded the 50th Foot during the retreat on 

 Coruiia ; and at the fatal battle in which Sir John 

 Moore fell he was wounded in five places and 

 made prisoner. Marshal Ney dismissed him, 

 with permission to go to England, where he 

 engaged in literary work, and even wrote an his- 

 torical romance. In 1811 he returned to the Pen- 

 insula. At Coa, where he fought as a volunteer, 

 he had two horses shot under him. At Busaco he 

 was shot in the face, having his jaw broken and 

 his eye injured. He recovered in time to be present 

 at the battle of Fuentes d'Onoro and the second 

 siege of Badajoz. He took part in a fighting 

 cruise off the Chesapeake, capturing American 

 vessels, and making frequent descents upon the 

 coasts. He did not return to Europe soon enough 

 for Waterloo, but was engaged in the storming of 

 Cambrai, and accompanied the army to Paris. 

 After the peace he was, in 1818, made governor of 

 the island of Cephalonia, the affairs of which he 

 administered with great energy and intelligence ; 

 but, being of an excessively combative disposition, 

 he became embroiled with the authorities at home. 

 In 1838 he was made a K.C.B., and in 1841 was 

 ordered to India to assume the command of the 

 army of Bombay against the ameers of Sind. His 

 destmction of a fortification called Emaun Ghur, 

 in 1843, was a most remarkable military feat. The 

 fearful battle of Meeanee (q.v.), on 17th February, 

 followed, where Napier, with 2800 English ami 

 sepoys, defeated 22,000 Baluchs, strongly posted. 

 The ameers surrendered, except Shere Mohammed, 

 who brought 25,000 men into line of battle at 

 Hyderabad. Napier had only 5000 men, but in 

 three hours his little army gained a decisive victory. 

 A few days afterwards Napier was in the palaco 



