Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/141

 NAPHTALI NAPHTHALINE 133 of Napa City, and quicksilver. The Napa branch of the California Pacific railroad trav- erses it. The chief productions in 1870 were 264,240 bushels of wheat, 34,890 of barley, 20,789 Ibs. of wool, 56,860 of butter, 46,745 gallons of wine, and 4,555 tons of hay. There were 1,755 horses, 1,128 milch cows, 2,703 other cattle, 6,006 sheep, and 6,243 swine. Capital, Napa City. NAPHTALI, the sixth son of Jacob, the second child borne to him by Bilhah, the handmaid of Rachel. In the census before Sinai the tribe of Naphtali numbered 53,400 fighting men, and at the entrance into Canaan 45,400, occupying a middle position among the tribes. It received as its allotment a part of upper Galilee, ex- tending from Lake Gennesaret to the sources of the Jordan. The only famous hero of the tribe was Barak. It is distinguished in the song of Deborah for the alacrity with which it obeyed the call to arms against the oppressors of the Hebrews. The principal town in its territory was Kedesh, the city of refuge. NAPHTHA, a term originally applied to a variety of pungent, volatile, inflammable liquids, chiefly belonging to the class of ethers ; it was then extended to oils of natural origin, rock oil, petroleum, &c. Subsequently the light oil of coal tar, owing to its resemblance to mineral oil, was termed naphtha ; more recently it has been again extended so as to include most of the inflammable liquids produced by the dry distillation of organic substances. In the Uni- ted States it is applied to a series of hydrocar- bons obtained from petroleum, and having spe- cific gravities ranging from 0-625 (rhigolene) to 0*742, and boiling points varying with the densities from 65 to 300 F. The following are some of the naphthas known in commerce : 1, boghead naphtha, obtained by distilling the Torbane hill mineral or boghead coal at as low a temperature as possible; 2, bone naphtha, Dippel's animal oil; 3, coal naphtha, obtained by the distillation of coal tar, and often con- founded with benzole; 4, mineral naphtha, from petroleum. According to S. Dana Hayes, the petroleum naphthas have distinguishing characteristics by which they are easily recog- nized, and which place them in a class by themselves; and aside from their odors, den- sities, boiling points, volatilities, and solvent powers, a noticeable peculiarity is the absence of oily bodies ; they do not leave any perma- nent stain on common writing paper, as do all the heavier oils obtained from petroleum. The commercial products are : Specific gravity. Beaume scale. Boiling point. C. Naphtha 0-706 70 180 F. B. Naphtha... 0-724 67 220 " A. Naphtha... 0-742 65 300 " 5. Wood naphtha, pyroligneous ether, pyrox- ylic spirit, or methylic alcohol, is a colorless, mobile, indifferent, inflammable liquid, which burns with a faintly illuminating, bluish flame ; it is miscible in all proportions with water, alcohol, ether, and ethereal oils; specific grav- ity 0-796, boiling point 149 F. When pure it has been prescribed in medicine for diseases of the lungs, and owing to its cheapness it is often substituted for alcohol, and sometimes used to adulterate brandy. As commonly described, naphtha is a very inflammable colorless liquid, of bituminous odor, tasteless, soluble in all pro- portions in absolute alcohol and in ether, insol- j uble in water, of specific gravity 0'700 to 0'847. It dissolves the fixed and essential oils in all proportions, and is hence advantageously used for removing grease from fabrics, and for the extraction of oils from seeds. It also dissolves sulphur, phosphorus, iodine, gum lac and copal, camphor, caoutchouc, the resins, &c. ; a quality that adapts it for the preparation of varnishes, and for other similar uses in the arts. In its preparation from artificial coal oils it is found that those which produce paraffine yield in general naphtha, while the product of those which contain naphthaline is rather limited to the hydrocarbons of the benzole series. It is manufactured into gas, is used to increase the illuminating power of coal gas in the place of benzole, and is sold for combustion in gas stoves and in lamps. There is probably no chemical product which has occasioned the loss of so many lives and the destruction of so much property as naphtha. Since its cheap manu- facture as an incidental product in the distil- lation of petroleum, it has been thrown upon the market in enormous quantities, and owing to its cheapness has been mixed with petro- leum or sold under a great variety of names for heating and illuminating purposes; and from its highly explosive and inflammable na- ture, it has proved little better in the hands of ignorant people than so much gunpowder. Its sale is now everywhere prohibited except for legitimate purposes. NAPHTHALINE (Ci H 8 ), a hydrocarbon ob- tained from the distillation of numerous or- ganic bodies, such as coal, wood, resin, oils, and animal substances; also by conducting the vapor of acetic acid, alcohol, ether, volatile oils, and camphor through red-hot tubes. It has been prepared by the passage through hot tubes of ethylene, marsh gas, and other hydro- carbons, as well as of a mixture of benzole and ethylene, sulphuretted hydrogen and disulphide of carbon, hydrogen, and the vapors of chlo- ride of carbon. In general we can say that naphthaline is the product of the decomposi- tion of organic matter at a red heat, just as the oxidation of the same bodies yields oxalic acid. Warren and Storer found naphthaline as a native product in the petroleum of Bur- mah. It was first noticed by Garden in 1820, was observed about the same time by Reichen- bach, and fully analyzed and its true chemical composition determined by Faraday. The most laborious researches upon it were made by Laurent, who was engaged for 20 years in the