A WONDERFUL SUBSTANCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1951, 28 March 1885, Page 2

A WONDERFUL SUBSTANCE.

Among the most interesting developments which have followed in tho wake of the discovery of petroleum is tho

immense trade which sprung up in ozokerit. No fairer substance ever sprung frqnj more 'unpromising parentage than the snowy, pure, tasteless, opalescent wax which is evolved from the nasty smelling, pitchy dregs of the petroleum still, The; "Mining Review' thus Bums up the many uses to which this roniarkablo substance is applied:—"This comely, imperishablo artjele, with all its smooth, soft beauty, defies agents which can destroy the precious metal and eat up the hardest steel as water desolves sugar. Sulphuric and other potents acids have no more effect upon ozokerit than spring water. Its advent seems to have been a special dispensation in this ago of electricity.; Every overhead electric light, cable or underground conduit, or slender wire cunningly wrapped with cotton threadall these owe their fitness for conducting the subtle fluid to the presence of the wax; and in still more familiar forms let us outline the utility of this substance. Eveiy gushing school girl who sinks her white teeth into chewing gum chews this paraffin wax, Every caramel she eats cgntainij % wax, and js wrapped in paper saturated witn the same substance. The gloss seen upon hundreds of varieties of confectionery is duo to tho presence of this ingredient of petroleum, used to give the articles a certain consistency, as. the laundress uses starch. So that a product I taken from the dirtiest, worst smelling of tars, finds its way to the millionaires mansion, an honorable servitor. It aids to make possible the electric radiance that floods his rooms: or in the form of wax candles, sheds a softer lustre over the scene. It polishes .the floor for the feet of his guests, and it melts, in their mouths in the costliest candies. Eor the insulation of electric wire, paraffin wax has no successful rival, and the growth of the demand for this purpqije keeps pace with the marvelloup growth of the electjic lighting system. A single Chicago firm, buys paraffin wai by

the cartload. Its price is ht half -that of beeswax, and yet the .old wax yields readily to sulphuric or otlr acid, this ■ being a test for the. prosenccof beeswax in paraffin. The demand f j paraffin for candles as yet heads the listj Theh conio the needs of the paper cosumers. In 1877 a single firm, in New I&rk handled 14,000 reams of waxed pape , Not only for wrapping candy is this p£ er valuable, but lino cutlery, hardware, «„ encased in waxed paper, is safe from le encroachment of rust or. dampness Fish and butter, and a score of otheriarticles, are also thus wrapped,. andJiere 'seems literally no end to. the uses fpid for the paper saturated with this pure carbon. In the chemist's laboratory it is invaluable as a coating--foi* articles exposed to allmannerof powerfudissolvents; brewers find it a capital thinj for coating the interior of barrels; and the of wax flowers simulates natire in sheets i of paraffin ; and yet, until Brake drilled his oil well in 1859, the existence 'in this country of this boon to civilisation was unsuspected, and it lay in tht depths of Pennsylvania rocks, where' thousands, possibly millions, of years igfcj| was stored by the hand of an all wiieOTator."