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 Reichenbach 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 



