On the combined action of heat and pressure upon the paraffins

1. In a preliminary communication read before the Royal Society on March 9th, 1871, we described the combined effect of heat and pressure upon the solid paraffins. We showed that when these substances are exposed to a high temperature in a closed vessel they are almost completely resolved, with the evolution of but little gas, into hydrocarbons, which remain liquid at the ordinary temperature. This transformation may be easily effected on the small scale.