Before gasoline was used as fuel for engines, it was sold in small bottles as a treatment against lice and their eggs. This treatment method is no longer common because of the inherent fire hazard and the risk of dermatitis.[citation needed]
In the United States, gasoline was also sold as a cleaning fluid to remove grease stains from clothing. Before dedicated filling stations were established, early motorists bought gasoline in cans to fill their tanks.
The name gasoline is similar to that of other petroleum products of the day, most notably petroleum jelly, a highly purified heavy distillate, which was branded Vaseline. The trademark Gasoline was never registered, and eventually became generic.
Gasoline was also used in kitchen ranges and for lighting, and is still available in a purified form, known as camping fuel, white gas or Coleman fuel, for use in lanterns and portable stoves.
During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), pétrole was stockpiled in Paris for use against a possible German-Prussian attack on the city. Later in 1871, during the revolutionary Paris Commune, rumours spread around the city of pétroleuses, women using bottles of petrol to commit arson against city buildings.
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