It has a peculiar odor and is readily inflammable and volatile

It is a solvent of iodin, sulphur, phosphorus, fatty and resinous bodies, caoutchouc, etc. It is the starting point of the so-called aromatic series of compounds, which may be regarded as derived from it by succe ive proce es of substitution, b. compounds or derivatives. Syn.: aromatic compounds. That group of organic compounds which may be considered as derivatives of the hydrocarbon benzene. In the nomenclature of the b. derivatives various isomeric compounds are named according as the different hydrocarbons are substituted. The hydrogen atoms are numbered as follows: 1 In the disubstitution products there are three po ible 2 isomeric products: the 1-3, or the ortho-position; the 5 'v ) 3 1-3, or the meta-position; \x and the 1-4, or the para- 4 position. The three po ible tri substitution products are: the 1-2-3, or the adjacent; the 1-3-4, or the asymmetrical: and the 1-3-5, or the symmetrical position. [Lat., bensinwn.1