442 
PROPERTIES OF NAPHTHA. 
applied to building, appears to have been in the lower parts as 
a preservative against damp ; and at present it holds the same 
character, being used for coating cisterns, baths, caulking boats, 
&c.; in short, to every thing put in the way of injury from 
water. The black naphtha springs at Bakou, on the Caspian, are 
of similar benefit to the inhabitants of that part of the country; 
and Jonas Han way describes their appearances and applications, 
nearly the same as they exist at the present day. He mentions, 
that when the weather is thick and hazy, the springs boil up 
higher; and that the naphtha, sometimes taking fire on the sur¬ 
face of the earth, runs like burning lava into the sea. In boiling 
over, the oily substance makes 'so strong a consistency as to 
gradually become a thick pitchy substance all round the mouth 
of the pit. The poorer sort of people use it as we would do oil 
in lamps, to boil their food. They find it burn best with a small 
mixture of ashes; but for fear of accidents they preserve it in 
earthen vessels, under ground, and at some distance from their 
dwellings. There is also a white naphtha, of a thinner fluid than 
the black and not found in such great quantities. It is some- 
times recommended medicinally, inwardly for chest complaints, 
** 
and outwardly for cramps and rheumatisms. Both it and the 
black are used for varnish. When it takes fire by accident, 
the consequences have often been fatal; and Strabo, who calls it 
liquid bitumen, asserts that its flame cannot be extinguished by 
water. The experiment tried by Alexander was horrible in its 
effects ; and, with a very little addition made by a poetical 
fancy, might induce us to believe that the celebrated consuming 
garments which Medea bestowed, were robes dipped in the 
naphtha that flowed so near her native land. The flaming soil, 
or everlasting Jire, as it is called, of Bakou, is not less famous 
