HART ON THE GREEN NAPHTHA. 
409 
Barbadoes, or some gentlemen, imagining*, and laudably endea¬ 
vouring 1 to convince tlieir brethren that this West Indian product 
has much medicinal virtue, have been anxious to give it as im¬ 
posing a name as they can, and therefore, according to Mr. Hart, 
it is the Rock Oil of Barbadoes, or Green Mineral Naphtha; or 
according to the somewhat better nomenclature of Mr. C. Clark, 
and of a writer in last week's Lancet (for the term mineral is 
superfluous as connected with naphtha), it is Barbadoes Mineral 
Oil, or Green Naphtha. We will do just as these gentlemen 
please. It shall be no longer Barbadoes Tar, or Petroleum, but 
Green Naphtha. 
Mr. Hart gives an interesting account of the production of this 
liquid bitumen :—“ At the foot of Mount Hellaby, in the parish 
of St. Andrew’s, a brook commences which flows in a north¬ 
easterly direction into the sea. About five hundred yards from 
its source, there appears on its surface a film of the Rock Oil, or 
Green Mineral Naphtha, exuding from each side of the hills 
through which the brook passes, and hence called by Lygon the 
Tar River. The w ater w hich springs from the south and w est side 
of the hills, and flows to the westward, is not impregnated with 
the Rock Oil. From Mount Hellaby there is a ridge extending 
to Mount Hall, and a corresponding one extending to Turner’s 
Hall, forming a narrow valley between these two high ridg’es: 
from the declivities on each side of this valley the greater portion 
ef this Rock Oil or Green Mineral Naphtha exudes, and flows 
into the brook above alluded to. 
“ Close to the brook, and a little to the north-west of Mount 
Hall, the point of exudation is called ‘ Potteryso named from 
being contiguous to the clay employed in the manufactory of 
pots. There is here a natural tank, always full of w r ater, and on 
its surface the Rock Oil is found, forming a film. By the appli¬ 
cation of the palm of the hand, the substance adheres to it, and 
is then scraped off on the edge of any vessel, as a calabash, for 
instance, which is the usual mode of collecting it, and thus freed 
from water. This Rock Oil has a greenish tint, and in some 
points of view r a rich olive shade.” 
Much medicinal virtue has long been attached to this “ Green 
jNaphtha.” The writer in the Lancet says, “ In the island itself, 
and in other parts of the West Indies, it has always maintained 
the highest character, and is constantly employed in tetanic cases, 
and in the leprous and other cutaneous eruptions so frequent in 
those latitudes. 
“ Within the last few years the subject, of these springs has 
excited great interest there, and a regular investigation has been 
made of them by the army medical staff at Barbadoes: in a 
vol. iv. 3 k 
