ON  KEROSOLENE. 
397 
Two  bottles  of  the  liquid  have  been  sent  me,  the  first  by  a 
medical  friend  residing  in  Massachusetts,  and  the  second,  at  my 
request,  by  the  manufacturer,  Joshua  Merrill,  superintendent  of 
the  Downer  Kerosene  Oil  Co.,  from  whom  I  learn  that  Keroso- 
lene,  as  it  is  named,  is  a  product  of  the  destructive  distillation 
of  Albert  coal,"  at  temperatures  varying  from  600^  to  890^ 
F.  The  very  volatile  portion,  separated  by  careful  fractional 
distillation  from  the  more  fixed  products  which  are  sold  as  kero- 
sene, is  purified  so  as  to  remove  its  unpleasant  odor,  and 
thoroughly  rectified. 
As  thus  produced,  kerosolene  is  a  tasteless,  colorless, 
though  highly  refractive,  inflammable  liquid,  burning  with  a 
bright  smoky  flame  ;  it  is  very  mobile  and  volatile,  and  the  bead 
disappears  immediately.  A  vial  when  grasped  by  the  palm  of 
the  hand,  gives  off  small  bubbles  of  vapor,  raising  the  stopper  ; 
its  odor  is  very  faint,  reminding  of  chloroform  at  first,  though 
less  agreeable  as  it  evaporates,  leaving  not  the  slightest  odor 
when  it  dries.  Its  sp.  gr.  varied  in  the  two  specimens  as  first 
received,  that  of  No.  1  being  .6346  at  76^  F.,  of  No.  2,  .6325  at 
72^  F.,  but  by  exposure  for  two  weeks  in  a  partly  filled  tincture 
bottle,  occasionally  opened,  the  specimen  marked  No.  1,  reached 
a  sp.  gr.  of  -6420  at  72°  F. 
From  the  last  named  fact  and  its  known  origin  and  mode  of 
preparation,  it  would  be  supposed  that  this  liquid  had  not  a  uni- 
form composition,  but  must  be  a  mixture  of  different  carbohy- 
drogens  of  varying  density  and  volatility  ;  the  truth  of  this  was 
proved  by  the  following  experiments  :  Specimen  No,  1  was 
heated  in  a  water  bath,  and  its  boiling  points  carefully  noted. 
At  84"^  F.  it  commenced  to  boil,  the  temperature  rapidly  rising 
to  90°,  and  afterwards  slowly,  without  becoming  stationary,^  to 
150°,  when  boiling  ceased,  about  one-sixth  of  the  original  liquid 
remaining  which  was  evaporated  at  about  200°  without  boiling. 
Specimen  No.  2  was  subjected  to  similar  experiments  ;  it  com- 
menced to  boil  at  82°  F.,  ceased  at  94°,  recommenced  at  100<^ 
and  ceased  at  105°,  when  the  remainder,  about  two-thirds,  was 
evaporated  without  boiling,  at  a  temperature  not  exceeding 
180°. 
The  extremely  low  sp.  gr.  of  this  substance  and  the  tempera- 
ture at  which  it  begins  to  boil  forbid  the  idea  of  its  containing 
