after the water has gone off, and by condensing in a fractionating
column of special construction, he is able to remove all the paraffin
oil, a considerable quantity of cresol, a small quantity of phenol,
and about 10 per cent. of pyridine bases, leaving the remainder of the
oil in a better condition, and more valuable for pickling timber,
which is its chief use.

If the mixed oil so obtained, which we may call "phenoloid oil," is
cracked by itself, no very striking result is obtained, the 40
percent. of paraffin present cracking in the usual way, and yielding a
certain amount of illuminants, but if this oil be cracked in the
presence of carbon, and be made to pass over and through a body of
carbon heated to a dull red heat, then it is converted largely into
benzene, the most valuable of the illuminants, and also being the one
to which coal gas owes the largest proportion of its illuminating
power, it is manifestly the right one to use in order to enrich it.

On cracking the phenoloid oil, the paraffins yield ethane, propane,
and marsh gas, etc., in the usual way, while the phenol interacts with
the carbon to form benzene--

Phenol. Benzene.
C6H5HO + C = C6H6 + CO.

And in the same way the cresol first breaks down to toluene in the
presence of the carbon, and this in turn is broken down by the heat to
benzene.

A great advantage of this oil is that the flashing point is 110, and
so is well above the limit, thus doing away with the dangers and