EUPION, CREOSOTE. 839 



talline substance, transparent and colourless, soft and not unlike 

 stearic acid, inodorous and tasteless, fusible at 1 10.6 (43.75 

 centig.), and capable of being distilled at a higher temperature 

 without alteration. A cotton-wick which has imbibed melted 

 paraffin, burns without smoke or odour, like a wax taper. Its 

 density is 0.870. 



In a chemical point of view, paraffin is distinguished for a 

 remarkable indifference to other bodies ; hence the name paraf- 

 fin (parum affinis} assigned to it by M. Reichenbach, its disco- 

 verer. It is not decomposed by chlorine, by alkalies or acids. 

 Paraffin is very soluble in ether and oil of turpentine ; boiling 

 alcohol dissolves only 3.45 per cent of its weight. This and 

 the other principles existing in tar are obtained by long and 

 intricate processes, which cannot be shortly described.* 



Eupion, C 5 H 6 , is best obtained from animal tar. It is a 

 colourless, very limpid liquid (whence its name), without odour 

 or taste, of density 0.655, not frozen by 4, boiling at 336.2 

 (169 centig.), and distilling over without change. It burns 

 easily by means of a wick, with a bright flame and no smoke. 

 Eupion is insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol. It is not 

 altered by potassium, by chlorine or iodine, which it dissolves, 

 nor by acids or alkalies. (Reichenbach, Ann. de Chim. 1, 69.) 



Creosote , C 7 H 4 ^O (Ettling), is present in wood-smoke, in 

 tar, and generally in wood- vinegar (pyroligneous acid), to which 

 it communicates its odour, taste and antiseptic properties. It 

 is an oily colourless liquid, of high refracting power, of which 

 the odour is penetrating and disagreeable, analogous to that 

 of smoked meat, and the taste burning and very caustic. Its 

 density is 1.037 at 68; it boils at 397.4 (203 centig.), and is 

 not frozen by a cold of 16.6 ( 27 centig.). It burns with 

 a very smoky flame. 



Creosote forms two different compounds with water at the 

 ordinary temperature; one is a solution of 1.25 parts of creo- 

 sote in 100 parts of water; the other, on the contrary, a solu- 

 tion 10 parts of water in 100 of creosote. Acetic acid appears 

 to be a special solvent of creosote ; these two liquids mix in all 

 proportions. Potassium is decomposed in it with effervescence 

 and formation of potash. Creosote forms in the cold two com- 



* Reichenbach ; Ann. de Chimie, etc. t. 30, p. 69. Also Dr. Thomson's Organic 

 Chemistry, Vegetables, p. 723 ; or Traite* de Chimie, par M. Dumas, t, v. p. 652. 



