The New Student's Reference Work/Naphtha

Naphtha (năf' thȧ or năp' thȧ) is derived from a Persian word meaning to exude and was originally used to designate the liquid hydrocarbons that ooze from the ground about the Caspian Sea. It was also applied to the natural oils, found universally, and to the oil derived from the Boghead mineral in Scotland. But since the discovery of Scotch paraffine and American petroleum the name has been applied only to the lighter, explosive and unsafe oils and, strictly speaking, to the products of distillation from mineral oils, coal-tar, india-rubber, bones, peat and wood, the latter being known also as methylalcohol. Petroleum (American) contains from 15 to 20 per cent. of naphtha, which is separated into gasoline, benzine and benzoline. The tar derived from the reduction of coal yields from 5 to 20 per cent. The spirit obtained from the destructive distillation of india-rubber is called caoutchin. Bone-naphtha or Dippel's animal-oil is obtained by distillation of bones in the manufacture of animal charcoal.