EXAMINATION OF A NAPHTHA FROM LIME-SOAP 



17 



Of the crude oil in question, ten separate portions, each measuring 6000 c c. wore 

 distilled from a copper retort through the hot condenser, as described in the cited Me- 

 moir. The oil began to boil in the retort at about 140° C. and the first portions of dis- 

 tillate passed through the hot condenser when this had risen to about ll'0°; the 

 temperature of the oil in the retort gradually rising to 250° or more, and that of the 

 hot condenser to 220°> at which point the process was interrupted, and the residue in 

 the retort thrown aside. During this first distillation the temperature of the hot con- 

 denser was maintained on the average from 30° to 50° below that of the boiling liquid 

 in the retort. The total amount of distillate, that is, of naphtha, obtained was equal to 

 about 20 % of the crude oil; by far the larger portion of the latter being composed of 

 difficultly volatile substances incapable of distilling over at 220°. The naphtha is a mo- 



bile liquid, of 



lemon-yellow 



and peculiarly 



odo 



As in the 



crude oil, so here the odor of acetone is noticed amon 



But 



this connection 



ill be well to remark that by far the larger portion of the naphtl 

 of hydro-carbon oils, the oxygenated compounds, like acetone 



been noticed by previous observers, b 



tion, and merely as impurities, as it wc 



This first distillate or naphtha wa 



present in altogether 



xc, which have 

 ordinate propor 



now 



atedly redistilled 



on an average 



ty-five times, — from glass retorts through hot condensers as befor 



portions of constant or nearly constant boiling points 



obtained 



un 



1 



ie 



quantities of material lying between these " heaps " or fixed points had become so 

 small as to leave no doubt of the absence of other bodies. During the progress of 

 these operations, which lasted nearly a year, the more offensive element of the odor vi 

 the hydro-carbons, and the odor of acetone also, gradually disappeared in great meas- 

 ure ; the yellowish color of the first products also diminished 



of the pure hydro-carb< 

 amounts of solid matter 



finally obtained being 



fectly colorless. Considerable 



ted in the retorts, especially d 



of the bodies of higher boiling points, being formed most probably from the oxidation 

 of impurities with which the crude hydro-carbons were contaminated. 



was completed it appeared that at least sixteen 



obtained. But up 



"When the process of distillation was 

 bodies of constant boiling points had b 



slightest clew to the composition of any of these bodies had been observed 

 had been noticed their odor was unlike that of any bodi 



that time not the 



So far 



w 



ith which we were 



familiar, while the action which some of them had been found to exert upon sodium 

 indicated the presence of substances very different from the hydro-carbons which had 

 previously fallen under our notice. 



