Dan. iii. 46. Vulg.NAPHTHA, a Sort of Bitumen found about Babylon. Daniel says, that they heated the Furnace, in which Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were to be cast, with Naphtha, Pitch and other combustible Matter. ‘Tis thought that Noah made use of Naphtha or Bitumen, to secure the outside of the Ark, and that the Walls of the Tower of Babel were cemented together with a Sort of Mortar, in which Naphtha was a chief Ingredient. We are assured that Naphtha is so subtle and inflammable a Substance, that it even attracts the Fire to it, when it comes to a certain distance. Strabo1 says, that it cannot be quenched by common Water. Pliny relates,2 that Medea burnt a Woman, against whom she had conceived a Jealousy, by giving her a Crown dipt in Naphtha, which took Fire as soon as she approached the Altar, in order to sacrifice.
Naphtha is a kind of Petrol or Rock-Fruit, which is to be found in several Parts of the World, sometimes of one Colour, and sometimes of another, according to the Nature of the Rock, or of the Soil that produces it; sometimes more Liquid, sometimes less, always very inflammable, sulphurous, clammy. The Word Naphtha is derived from the Chaldee or Hebrew Noph or Naph, to drop or distil, because it runs or drops as Bitumen, says Pliny3. It is got in great Quantities from certain Springs, which are near the City Hit in Chaldæa.4 It is also found in the Mountains of Farganah, in the Province of Trantoxane. To distinguish Naphtha from Pitch, the Turks call it Black -Mastick. There is a Kind which is called rocky, Naphtha Petræa, because it distils from the Rocks. ‘Tis found in the Duchy of Modena, running from a Rock in a certain Mountain. There is some also about Ragusa; and even in several Provinces of France, as Auvergne, &c. The Naphtha of France is soft as Pitch, liquid, black, of an ungrateful scent. That of Italy is a Kind of Petrol, or a clear Oil, sometimes White, sometimes Red, sometimes Yellow, sometimes Green, and sometimes Black. Isaac Vossius has wrote a Dissertation upon the antient and modern Naphtha.
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