The Daily state register. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1870-1872, 1871-03-26
10 Agents of The Pacific Insurance
Company.
OFFICE PACIFIC INSURANCE COMPANY,
a FRANCISCO, March ~. 1871.

OFFICE PACIFIC INSURANCE C~OMPANY,t
A FRANCISCO, March ~, 1871.
Referring To our Circular of LIST July,
1870, on the subject OF Gasoline and SINH
lar dangerous illuminating agents (ail
products of Petroleum.. We DESIRE now n,
direct your attention { another plausible
i~ncrndiary. belonging to the same class,
in the form OF
Banf"rth's Nom Explosive Fluid
This article. by reason OF its >prrious pre-
tensions of safety, brilliancy and cheap
ness, has met with favor in several lOcaii-
ties on this coast, where ii has been
recently intrGtl~ed, and its further sale il
being encouraged to such an extent that
we deem 1t duty to submit to you, and
through you to our insured and the pub
lie. the reasons Of our approximations on
his subject.
ThisOiI has been in use in Virginia and
Carson Cities, state of Nevada. for only q
few months, and We have conclusive evil
dencc before lis that Mr.. Il. IL. Mcder's
dwelling at Carson was fired by, and the
Bay State Mill at Virginia was totally de-
stroycd us the result OF explosions of l,an-
forth'S Non-EXpIo>ivc Fluid, involving
the Insurance Companies IN losses to tho
amount of $1,000. ON property valued at
SSl. nRi.
We therefore obtained samples of thi.
oil from several different places and sub
mitted them TO Prof. Price. OF this city,
for thorough chemical analysis and in
~Ne>tlgation. His conclusions are, that
it ~ltNIAEN ~ Ait I'AIlIpEli3
Oil shown him was {. 7Wi2. The oil cvap-
grated very rapidly on exposure to the
air. The Ntppr thus given OF i COmbus-
tihlc. and wnCu mixed with air y
Is very explosive. 1t evolved an lmfiam-
mablC yapor at a temperature OF 40 F. /
consider such oil very dangerous. s. " >
| see no difference between This hurnin,
fluid and ordinary Naptha, or Gasoline.'
\ growing sentiment of fear in the East
ern public mind, occasioucd 10y expert
enceS OF fire and death, has shaken public
confidence IN This Oil-and W. are glad I
he able TO present, in CONFEDERATION OF our
statements, the cport of Prof fowler,
Analytical Chemist TO II Geneva Medi-
cal College. He says:
The specific gravity of the most
volatile specimen of Naptha OBJ
tanned from lanforth's oil ~........ OF sfES
Specific gravity OF the least volatilc-0.7l15
specific gravity of good keru<rne...0795s
II Will he observed that the difference
between the speCif" gravity of IInforth's
Fluid and Kerosene is quite marked,
showing that the Fluid i not ker0-
sene. But the great and characteristic
difference between the TWO i observed in
the following experiments:
Level a piece Of glass two inches
square. for instance. on the top Of a bot
tie, and pour Il little kerosene IN tho
middle and let it spread. Ifthe kerosene
i pure properly rcctinrd it i impossi-
BILE, with 4 burning match, to kindle tho
thin layer Of this into flame. a. long as
the glass it-"lfI> nor made hot. Whereas,
If the experiment he made with DanfOrth
Fluid, a flame is produced ong before
the match IN in contact with the thin
layer of huid beneath. \ few drops Of
the DantUrth Fluid being poured into o
tall cylinder soon produced enough vapor
at an ordinary temperature to give rise to
an explosion When Il light was applied.
Kerosene tested in the sam" manner
neither exploded nor burned. Equal
quantities of the Fluil and Of Kerosene
were iGnitci and allowed To burn OUT.
he IIHII was fNh+IA4tt in five rf.lDlraS