bons) which exudes from the soil in certain parts of Persia. (According to Pelletier and Walter, it consists of three hydrocarbons-viz., C,H14, which boils at 190° F. (87.7°C.); C.H., which boils at 239° F. (115° C.), and C12H24, which boils at 374° F. (190° C.). The term is, however, now used not only to designate a similar and almost identical fluid, that issues from the ground in many parts of the world, and is known as petroleum, rock-oil, etc., but is also applied to other liquids which resemble true naphtha in little else than their volatility and inflammability. Thus, wood-spirit, or methylic alcohol, is often spoken of as wood-naphtha, and acetone is sometimes described as naphtha. Coaltar yields by distillation a liquid which has a heavier specific gravity and a lower boiling-point than Persian naphtha, but resembles it in general properties, and can generally be substituted for it for some purposes. See GAS-TAR.

Crude naphtha, whether occurring as a natural product or as obtained from coaltar, is purified by agitation with strong sulphuric acid; after which it must be well washed with water (in which it is quite insoluble), and finally distilled from quicklime. Pure naphtha is colorless, and of a peculiar taste and odor; it is soluble in about eight times its bulk of alcohol, and dissolves in all proportions in ether and in essential oils. Hot naphtha dissolves phosphorus and sulphur, but deposits them on cooling. It is an excellent solvent for gutta-percha, caoutchouc, camphor, and fatty and resinous bodies generally; and hence it is extensively used in the arts for these purposes, and its employment as a source of artificial light is now becoming universal. In consequence of its containing no oxygen, it is employed by chemists for the preservation of potassium and other metals, which have a powerful affinity for oxygen. Owing to its volatility and inflammability, it must be handled with great caution, many fatal cases having arisen from its vapor catching fire on the approach of a candle.

The principal kinds of naphtha known in commerce are native naphtha, coal naphtha, Boghead naphtha (also called paraffin oil and photogen), shale naphtha, and naphtha from caoutchouc and caoutchine.

Native naphtha, petroleum, or rock-vil is found in many parts of the world, as in Japan, Burmah, Persia, the shores of the Caspian sea, Siberia, Italy, France, and North America. It is of various degrees of consistency, from a thin, light, colorless fluid found in Persia, with a specific gravity of about 0.750, to a substance as thick as butter, and nearly as heavy as water. But all the kinds when rectified have nearly the same constitution. They contain no oxygen, and consist of carbon and hydrogen compounds only. Bitumen and asphaltum are closely allied substances in a solid or semi-solid form. From a very early period in Persia and Japan, and at least since last century in Italy. native naphtha has been used to burn in lamps.

Coal-tar naphtha (see GAS-TAR), as stated above, is of a higher specific gravity than native naphtha-viz., from 0.860 to 0.900, and has a more disagreeable and penetrating odor.

Paraffin oil, for some time known also as Boghead naphtha, has become, of late years, so important a manufacture that a brief history of its origin cannot be uninteresting. In the year 1847 Mr. James Young, of the chemical works at Bathgate, had his attention called to a petroleum spring at Alfreton, in Derbyshire, from which he distilled a light thin oil for burning in lamps, obtaining at the same time a thicker oil, which was used for lubricating machinery. After a year or two the supply began to fail, but Mr. Young, noticing that petroleum was dropping from the sandstone roof of a coalmine, conjectured that it originated by the action of heat on the coal-seam, the vapor from which had condensed in the sandstone, and supposed from this that it might be produced artificially. Following up this idea, he tried a great many experiments, and ultimately succeeded, by distilling coal at a low red-heat, in obtaining a substance resembling petroleum, which, when treated in the same way as the natural petroleum, yielded similar products. The obtaining of these oils and the solid substance paraflin from coal formed the subject of his now celebrated patent, dated Oct. 17, 1850,

In the years 1860 and 1864 long and costly litigations as to the validity of Mr. Young's patent took place in Edinburgh and London, resulting in the main in his favor. Many years ago Reichenbach had, by distilling 100 lbs. of pit-coal, obtained nearly 2 oz. of an oily liquid exactly resembling natural naphtha; and various other chemical writers were appealed to, as proving that methods substantially the same as Mr. Young's were previously known and practiced. One thing seeme to have been admitted, that previous to his patent no one had succeeded in producing the oil on a commercial scale.

The processes by which the oil and paraffin are obtained are simple. The material best adapted for the purpose was for years believed to be Boghead coal, a very rich gascoal, occurring in a field of limited extent near Bathgate, in Linlithgowshire. All cannel coals, however, give the same products, and some of them in nearly as large quantity; but, as stated below, shale is now generally used and treated in the same way. The coal is broken into fragments like road-metal, and gradually heated to redness in cast-iron retorts, which are similar to those used for coal-gas (see GAs). The retorts are most usually upright, about 10 ft. long and 14 in. in diameter at the bottom, tapering to 12 in. at the top, and built in sets of 3, 4, or 6, so that one fire may heat each set. The coal is fed by means of a hopper on the top of the retort, and after passing through it at a low red-heat, is drawn out as coke at the bottom, where there is a water lute to prevent the escape of oil or gas. There is a spherical valve in the hopper, counterpoised

Naphthalic.

with a weight, which closes the retort at the top. The volatile matters distilled from the coal are conducted by a pipe to the condensers (similar to those used for coal-gas), where they are condensed into a thick black oil, of a specific gravity of about 0.900, along with a little water. Great care is necessary to prevent the heat from becoming too high, because gas and gas-tar, and not paraffin oil, are obtained when coal or shale is distilled at a high temperature. A ton of Boghead coal gave about 120 gallons of crude oil.

The crude oil from the first distillation is then distilled again in long cylindrical malleable-iron stills. From this second distillation a green oil" is obtained, and the residue is removed as coke from the bottom of the still. This oil is then mixed with from 5 to 10 per cent of sulphuric acid, and afterwards with about the same quantity of soda, the mixtures being made in circular tanks with revolving stirrers. Both the acid and the soda mix with impurities, which fall to the bottom as heavy tarry matters, and are run off by a stop-cock, till only the clear supernatant oil remains. After being so far purified, the oil undergoes three further distillations, being at the same time treated with strong acid (1 per cent) and soda. The final result is that a small quantity of light naphtha is obtained in the later distillations, three-fourths of what is left being a light and nearly colorless oil used for burning in lamps, and the remainder a thicker oil containing paraffine. This latter portion is pressed in a hydraulic press, which squeezes out the greater portion of the paraffine, leaving an oil which is sold for lubricating machinery. The crude paraffine, after being subjected to hydraulic pressure three or four times, is chiefly purified, by repeated crystallizations, from naphtha. Steam is afterwards blown through it in a melted state, and when finally treated with 3 per cent of animal charcoal it is an exquisitely beautiful substance, resembling the purest white wax. It is largely manufactured into candles, which equal, or even excel, in appearance those made from wax, and are only about half as costly. Paraffine has now a number of curious minor applications.

Shale naphtha, or "shale-oil," is a substance which has been manufactured, for many years, from bituminous shales, both in England and on the continent. Partly because the Boghead coal has become practically exhausted, but chiefly because the volatile prod ucts from it are more easily purified than from any coal, beds of bituminous shale found in the carboniferous formation are now almost entirely used in Scotland as the raw material from which paraffine oil and paraffine are obtained. Previous to 1856 these shales were turned to no account. See SHALE.

Naphtha from caoutchouc, or caoutchine, is obtained from caoutchouc by destructive distillation. In composition it consists mainly of hydrocarbons, having the same proportion of carbon to hydrogen as india rubber. Caoutchine has the reputation of being one of the best known solvents for india rubber.

Until the discovery of the Pennsylvanian, the Burmese (Rangoon) petroleum, or rockoil, was one of the best known. It is obained in a treacly state by sinking wells about sixty feet deep in the soil, and consists of several fluid hydrocarbons, with about ten or eleven per cent of the solid hydrocarbon paraffine. The different naphthas it contains are highly prized as burning and lubricating oils, and for removing greasy stains, on account of their agreeable smell. The naphtha which is found abundantly at Baku, on the shores of the Caspian sea, closely resembles the Rangoon in its qualities. The Persian naphtha is frequently pure enough for burning without rectification.

Prominent among the wonders of our time, however, as regards new fields of industry and wealth, stand the discoveries of the naphtha, or, as they are called, the petroleum regions of the United States. Some of these sources of native naphtha were known to the Indians, by whom it was at one time collected for sale; but it is little more than twenty years since, by sinking deep wells, the great extent of the oil-bearing strata became known. The principal supplies are obtained in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, a considerable quantity being also obtained in west Canada. Other regions in North America produce it, but the Pennsylvanian yield is six or seven times greater than all the rest put together. Consul Kortright, in his report on the states of Pennsyl vania, Ohio, etc., for 1870 and 1871, says: The oil regions are 100 miles in length by 30 to 50 in breadth, and the number of wells to be tapped so great that the supply is considered to be sufficient for a century to come at least.

Much curiosity exists respecting the origin of these great natural sources of petroleum. It seems to be the general opinion of geologists that it has in most cases been produced by the decomposition of both vegetable and animal matters. In this respect it differs from coal, which has arisen from the decay of vegetable matter alone. It would appear that the Pennsylvanian oil proceeds from shales of carboniferous age; the Canadian from those of Devonian age. In both countries the oil is found in cavities in sandstone, and has therefore been derived from subjacent rocks. It is now known that petroleum has formed in rocks of nearly all geological ages. Prof. Dana, the American mineralogist, says that the conditions favorable to the formation of native naphtha, as shown by the characteristics of the deposits in which it is found, are: (1) the diffusion of organic material through a fine mud or clay; (2) the material in a very finely divided state; and (3), as a consequence of the preceding, the atmosphere excluded as far as possible from the material undergoing decomposition.

In Pennsylvania the first borings for petroleum took place in 1859, and in that year

82,000 bbls (reckoned at 43 galls. each) were obtained; in 1861 the produce had reached 2,000,000 bbls.; and since then, as a rule, it has increased from year to year. In 1872 the total produce of North America was 7,394,000 bbls.; Canada furnishing 530,000 bbls. In the year 1884 the total exports from the United States of petroleum amounted to over 24,019,750 bbls., an enormous quantity, considering the first exports took place so recently as 1861. Of late years the petroleum trade is said to have employed in North America as many hands as coal-mining and the working of iron. See OIL WELLS.

In 1862 and 1871 acts of parliament were passed limiting the amount of petroleum to be kept in store, and regulating the sale of such kinds as give off an inflammable vapor below 100° F. There are special warehouses for the reception of petroleum at the London and Liverpool docks.

Terrible accidents have now and then happened with some of the more inflammable American oils, by reason of their vapors exploding in the reservoirs of lamps. Most of these have, no doubt, taken place with oils whose vapors form an explosive mixture with air at a temperature below 100° F., but they can hardly be considered safe if their vapors will take fire on the approach of a light at less than 120° F. The vapor of the paraffine oil prepared for illuminating purposes by Young's mineral oil company, and no doubt by other firms, from Scotch shale, will not form an explosive mixture below 120° F., and it is therefore quite safe. Since this oil has to compete with petroleum, such a standard can only be kept up at a loss, and there is therefore a great temptation to keep down the firing-point of these burning oils as low as possible, with a view to greater profit; and although accidents have happened with paraffine oil, as well as with American petroleum, there is little doubt that the latter cannot be so thoroughly relied upon for safety. It could easily be made so, however, if the lighter hydrocarbons which it con tains were carefully removed.

NAPHTALI, TRIBE OF, named after a son of Jacob, recorded as numbering 53,400 adult males at the exodus, being then the 6th in numbers among the 12 tribes. On its arrival at the outskirts of Palestine, it was only 8th in number. In the journey through the wilderness its place was n. of the tabernacle, near the tribes of Dan and Asher, with which it constituted the "camp of Dan." The ensign of the three is represented by the Jewish legends as a serpent, bearing the inscription "Return, O Jehovah! unto the many thousands of Israel." The territory allotted to Naphtali was situated in n.e. Palestine, bounded on the n. by the Leontes river, on the e. by lakes Galilee and Merom and the Jordan, on the s. by the Zebulun, and on the w. by Asher. It included the w shore of the sea of Galilee. Its surface and scenery were more diversified than those of the other tribes. Its s. portion, and especially the plains along the shore of the sea of Galilee were the most fertile region of Palestine. The tribe of Naphtali, under the leadership of Barak of Kedesh-Naphtali, repelled the invasion of the Canaanites under Sisera and Jabin (Judg. x.), and their valor is extolled in the song of Deborah. In the reign of Solomon, Naphtali was under the charge of Ahimaaz, his son-in-law. The head of the tribe in David's time was Jerimoth ben Azriel. In the reigns of Asa, king of Judah, and Baasha, king of Israel, Benhadad, king of Syria, "sent the captains of the host which he had, against the cities of Israel, and smote all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali" (I. Kings, xv, 20). About 730, Tiglath Pileser ravaged n. Palestine and carried off the population to Assyria, and the history of the tribe ends at this point.

NAPHTHAL IC GROUP or SERIES. The starting point of the group is Naphthaleno, CoHs, a substance of great interest in the history of organic chemistry, from its being that upon which Laurent chiefly founded his theory of substitutions. It may be obtained in various ways, but is most easily and abundantly produced from the last portions of the distillate of coal-tar, which become semi-solid on cooling. The liquid part of this mass is got rid of by pressure, and the naphthalin is then taken up by hot alcohol, from which it is obtained in a pure state by crystallization and sublimation.

Naphthalene crystallizes in large, thin, rhombic plates, which are unctuous to the touch, and have a pearly lustre. Exposed to light under a glass covering, it gradually sublimes at an ordinary temperature in splendid crystals. It has a somewhat tar-like odor, and a pungent and somewhat aromatic taste. It fuses at 176° F. (80° C.), and boils at 424.4° F. (218° C.). Its specific gravity, in the solid state, is 1.15, and as a vapor, 4.528. It is not very inflammable, and when ignited, burns with a white smoky flame. It is insoluble in water, but dissolves readily in alcohol, ether, and the fixed and essential oils. By acting on naphthalene with an excess of sulphuric acid, we obtain naphthalene-sulpho acid, C1.H, SOH + H2O, from which, by substitution processes, a large number of compounds are produced. With nitric acid, naphthalene yields nitro-naphthalene [C1H,NO1], dinitro-naphthalene [C.H.(NO2)2], and trinitro-naphthalene [C1.H5(NO2)], the group (NO), or its multiples, being substituted for one, two, and three equivalents of the hydrogen of the naphthalene. The final product of the prolonged action of boiling nitric acid on naphthalene is a mixture of oxalic and naphthalic or phthalic acid; the reaction being shown by the equation:

Napier.

This acid is also obtained by the continued action of nitric acid upon alizarin, which is an important fact, since it indicates a connection between naphthalene and the coloring matter of madder.

Laurent has discovered a very numerous series of substitution compounds formed upon the type of naphthalene, into the composition of which chlorine enters. They are of little practical importance although their investigation has exerted a remarkable influence upon the progress of organic chemistry.

NAPIER, Sir CHARLES, K. C. B., English admiral, was cousin to the hero of Scinde and the historian of the peninsula war. His father was the hon. capt. Charles Napier, R. N., second son of Francis, fifth lord Napier. He was born March 6, 1786, at the family seat, Merchistoun Hall, in the co. of Stirling. At 13, he went to sea as a naval volunteer. In 1808, he received the command of the Recruit, 18 guns, and had his thigh broken by a bullet. He kept up a running fight, in his 18-gun brig, with the rearmost of three French line-of-battle ships, the D'Hautpoult, which escaped from Guadeloupe, and was thus instrumental in her capture. This obtained him a post-captaincy; but being thrown out of active service, he served ashore as a volunteer in the peninsular army, and was wounded at Busaco. Commanding the Thames in 1811, he inflicted an incredible amount of damage upon the enemy in the Mediterranean, and also conducted several desperate land operations with marked success. In 1814, he was ordered to America, and led the way in the hazardous ascent and descent of the Potomac. He afterwards took an active part in the operations against Baltimore. In 1829, he received the command of the Galatea, a 42-gun frigate, and was employed "on particu lar service on the coast of Portugal. Becoming acquainted with the leaders of the constitutional party, he accepted the command of the fleet of the young queen; and by defeating the Miguelite fleet, he concluded the war, and placed Donna Maria on the throne. He was made admiral-in-chief of the Portugese navy, and attempted to remodel it; but official and corrupt influence was too strong for him, and he returned to England. In the war between the Porte and Mehemet Ali, he organized a land force, with which he stormed Sidon, and defeated Ibrahim Pasha among the heights of Mount Lebanon. He took part in the naval attack on Acre, and did not hesitate to disregard the orders of his chief, admiral Stopford, when he saw the way to bring the battle to a speedy termination. He next blockaded Alexandria, and concluded a convention with Mehemet Ali. In 1847, he received the command of the channel fleet. When the Russian war broke out, he was sent out to command the Baltic fleet; but the capture of Bomarsund failed to realize the high expectations formed of Napier's exploits. He twice sat in parliament, and, until his death, Nov. 6, 1860, he labored with success to reform the British naval administration. He was at the time of his death a vice-admiral and a knight of several foreign orders.

NAPIER, Sir CHARLES JAMES, G. C.B., English gen., one of several brothers distinguished for their bravery, three of whom-Charles, William, and George-were known in the peninsular war as Wellington's colonels. They were sons, by a second marriage, of hon. col. George Napier, grandson of Francis, fifth lord Napier, who was fifth in descent, but through two females in succession, from the inventor of Logarithms. Charles, the eldest, was born at Whitehall, Westminster, Aug. 10, 1782. Before he had finished his twelfth year, young Napier received a commission in the 22d Foot. His first service was in Ireland, where he assisted in putting down the rebellion He commanded the 50th Foot during the retreat on Corunna; and at the fatal battle in which sir J. Moore fell, he was wounded in five places and made prisoner. Marshal Ney dismissed him, with permission to go to England on parole. On his return, he engaged in literary works, and even wrote an historical romance. In 1811, he returned to the peninsula. At Coa, where he fought as a volunteer, he had two horses shot under him. At Busaco, he was shot in the face, having his jaw broken and his eye injured. He recov ered in time to be present at the battle of Fuentes d'Onoro and the second seige of Badajoz. After distinguishing himself in innumerable skirmishes, the daring soldier returned to England. He next took part in a fighting cruise off the Chesapeake, capturing American vessels, and making frequent descents upon the coasts. He did not return to Europe soon enough for Waterloo, but was engaged in the storming of Cambray, and accompanied the army to Paris. After the peace he was, in 1818, made governor of the island of Cephalonia, the affairs of which he administered with great energy and intelligence. Being, however, of an excessively combative disposition, he became embroiled with the authorities at home. In 1841 he was ordered to India to assume the command of the army at Bombay. This was the most splendid period of his career, resulting in the conquest of Scinde against terrible odds. His destruction of a fortification called Emaun Ghur in 1843, was described by the duke of Wellington as one of the most remarkable military feats he had ever heard of. The fearful battle of Meane followed, where Napier, with 1600 English and sepoys, defeated near 30,000 Beloochees, strongly posted, with the loss of 6,000 men. The Ameers surrendered, except Shere Mahomed. who brought 25,000 men into line of battle at Hydrabad. Napier had only 5,000 men, but in three hours his little army gained a decisive victory. A few days afterwards, Napier was in the palace of the Ameers, and master of Scinde. He was fortunate in possessing the entire confidence of lord Ellenborough, who made him governor of Scinde. His

Napier. civil administration was scarcely less remarkable or less successful than his military operations. He gained the respect and reverence of the inhabitants, but soon became engaged in an acrimonious war of dispatches with the directors. In 1847, he returned to England. After attending a series of festivals in his honor, he lived in retirement until the disasters of the last Sikh war caused the eyes of his countrymen to be turned to the hero of Scinde as the deliverer of our Indian empire. He went to India, but found on his arrival that the Sikhs had been routed. He now turned his attention, as commander-in-chief of the army in India, to the subject of military reform. He bade a final adieu to the east in 1851, and returned to his native country, where he resided until his death, which took place at his seat, at Oaklands, near Portsmouth, Aug. 29, 1853. He had then attained the rank of lieut. gen., was G.C.B., and col. of the 22d Foot. It must be remembered to his honor that he was the first English gen. who ever recorded in his dispatches the names of private soldiers who had distinguished themselves, side by side with those of officers. Brave to rashness, ready alike with tongue, pen, and sword, quarrelsome with his superiors, but beloved by his soldiers, and, to crown all, of a strangely wild yet noble and striking appearance, Napier was one of the most remarkable men of his time, and in losing him the country lost one of its brightest military ornaments. His statue was, after his death, erected in Trafalgar square. story of his Conquest of Scinde has been written by his brother, lieut. gen. sir WILLIAM FRANCIS PATRICK NAPIER, K.C.B., born Dec. 17, 1785, who served in the peninsular campaign, and was engaged from 1824 to 1840 in preparing his History of the Peninsular War, the greatest military history in the English language. He died Feb. 12, 1860, at Scinde house, Clapham, and was followed in a few weeks to the tomb by his wife, lady Napier, niece of the great C. J. Fox. Her extraordinary skill in translating French documents written in cypher, and her indefatigable labors as her husband's amanuensis, are touchingly commemorated in the preface to the edition of the History of the Peninsular War, published in 1851.

The

NAPIER, JOHN, Laird of Merchiston, was b. at Merchiston castle, near Edinburgh, in 1550, and d. there on April 4, 1617. After attending the regular course in arts at the university of St. Andrews, he traveled for some time on the continent, and returned to his native country highly informed and cultivated for the age. Declining all civil employments, for which his many accomplishments eminently fitted him, he preferred the seclusion of a life devoted to literary and scientific study. From this time his history is a blank till 1593, when he published his Plaine Discovery (or "interpretation") of the whole Reuelation of Saint John (Edin. 5th ed. 4to, 1645), a work displaying great acuteness and ingenuity, but, it is scarcely necessary to add, not in any sense a "plaine discouery" of the apocalypse. In the dedication to king James VI. he gave his majesty some very plain advice regarding the propriety of reforming his house, family, and court," and on republishing the work he added a supplement, resolving "certaine doubts mooved by some well-affected brethren." About this time he seems to have devoted much of his time to the invention of warlike machines, but these inventions were never perfected, probably from motives of humanity. Like other eminent men of the time, Napier, though a strict Presbyterian, seems to have been a believer in astrology and divination, but there is no satisfactory proof that he ever practiced these arts. In 1596 he proposed the use of salt as a fertilizer of land, an idea which, though scouted at the time, is now generally received. Another large blank in his history here occurs, and terminates in 1614, at which date he first gave to the world his famous invention of logarithms (q.v.), in a treatise entitled Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio (4to, Edin.). This was followed by another work, Rabdologiæ, seu numerationis per Virgulas libri duo (Edin. 1617), detailing an invention for simplifying and shortening the processes of multiplication and division. See NAPIER'S BONES. He also prepared a second work on logarithms, showing their mode of construction and application, with an appendix containing several propositions of spherical trigonometry, and those formula which are now known by his name. This work was published after his death by his son Robert, under the title of Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Constructio, etc., quibus accessere Propositiones ad Triangula sphærica faciliore calculo resolvenda, etc. (Edin. 1619), and occurs along with the Canonis Descriptio. The latter work is included in baron Masere's extensive collection, the Scriptores Logarithmici (Lond. 1808). Napier's eldest son. Archibald, was raised to the peerage as the first lord Napier by Charles I. in 1627, and his descendants still bear the title. Two lives of Napier have been published, the one by the earl of Buchan (1787), and the other by Mr. Mark Napier (1834).

NAPIER, MACVEY, 1776-1847; b. Scotland; educated at the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. He was intended for the law, and served an apprenticeship with a member of the society of writers of the signet, of which he afterwards became librarian. He was soon chosen by the society to fill a lectureship on conveyancing, newly estab lished by the society, and soon after transferred into a professorship at the university of Edinburgh. In 1814 he was selected to edit the Supplement to the Encyclopædia Britan nica. He was to have edited a new edition of that work, but was prevented by the failure of its publisher, Constable of Edinburgh. In 1830, on the accession of the whigs, he was appointed principal clerk of session, and resigned his office of librarian. He had long been an occasional contributor to the Edinburgh Review, to the editorship of