THE 

 LONDON, EDINBURGH, and DUBLIN 



PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



[FOURTH SERIES.] 



AUGUST 1873. 



X. Fluorescent Relations of certain solid Hydrocarbons found 

 in Petroleum Distillates. By Henry Morton, Ph.D., Pre- 

 sident of the Stevens Institute of Technology*. 



IN a previous paper embodying the results of some observa- 

 tions upon the fluorescent relations of commercial anthra- 

 cene t, I have alluded to the existence of an analogous body 

 among the final products of some petroleum-distillations ; and I 

 now propose to relate more fully the facts developed in a study 

 of these bodies. 



Nearly a year since, Professor E. N. Horsford placed in my 

 hands a small specimen of petroleum- distillate, from which I 

 succeeded in separating a crystalline solid, fluorescing in a re- 

 markable manner with a bright green colour. 



The amount of material at my command was too small (being 

 in fact but a few grains, extracted from less than an ounce of 

 the substance sent me) to admit of more than a preliminary ex- 

 amination. I succeeded, however, in establishing its optical 

 (fluorescent and absorptive) relations to commercial anthracene, 

 and its difference from that substance in fusing-point and solu- 

 bilities. 



After encountering some difficulty in tracing up the supply to 

 its source, I was introduced by Professor G. F. Barker to Mr. 



* Communicated by the Author. 

 t See this Journal, 1872, vol. xliv. p. 345. 

 Phil. Mag. S. 4. Vol. 46. No. 304. Aug. 1873. H 



