Naphtha
This word is derived from the Persian (to exude), and was originally applied to an inflammable liquid hydro-carbon which exudes from the soil in certain parts of Persia. The term is, however, now used 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 the term is also applied to other liquids which resemble true naphtha in little else than in their volatility and inflammability, as methylic alcohol or wood-spirit, etc. See PETROLEUM.