Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-18
AwonderfuI New Substance.
independent Record.


Among the most interesting develop
ments which have followed in the wake of
the discovery petroleum,is the immense
trade which has sprung up in OzOkerite,
or OZocerite, as Webster has it. No fairer
substance ever sprung from most unprO-
missing parentage than the snowy, pure,
tasteless, opalescent wax which is
evolved from the loud smelling, pitchy
dregs of the petroleum STILL
The remarkable properties of ozokerite
have won for it field of utility in which
it reigns well nigh supreme. This come
ly, lmpresslOnable article, with all it's
smooth soft beauty, defies agents which
can destroy the precious metals and eat
up the hardest steel as water dissolves
sugar. Sulphuric and other potent acids
have no more effect on OzOkerite than
spring water. 1t is alike impervious to
acid and to moisture. Its advent seems to
have been special dispensation in this
age of electricity.
Every overhead electric light, cable, or
underground conduit, or slender wire,
cInningly wrapped with cotton thread;
all these owe their fitness for conducting
the subtle fluid to thepresence of this
wax. And in still more familiar
form let us out line the utility Of
this substance. Every gushing school
girl who sinks her white teeth into chew
ing gum chews this paraffne wax. Every
caramel she eats contains this wax and
IS wrapped in paper saturated with the
same substance. The gloss seen upon
hundreds of varieties of confectionery is
due to the presence of this ingredient of
petroleum, used to give the articles a GER
tain consistency, as the laundress uses
starch. SO that product taken from the
dirtiest, worst-smelling of tars finds its
way tol the millionaire's mansion,
an hOnOred serYitoT. 1t aids to make
possible the electric radiance that floods
his rooms; or, in the form of wax candles,
sheds softer lustre over the scene. 1t
pOlshes the floor for the feet of his guests
and it melts in their mouths in the costli-
est candles.
For the insulation of electric wire,
parafine wax has to-day no successful
rival, and the growth of the demand for
this purpose keeps pace with the marvel
lOus growth of the electric lighting system.
a single Chicago concern buys Daraffine
wax in this city by the car load. It's price
is but half that of beeswaX, and yet the
older wax yields readily to sulphuric or
other acid, this being a test for the pres
ence of beeswaX in parafiine. The de-
mand for parafiine for candles as yet
heads the list Then comes the needs of
the paper consumers. In 1877 a single
firm in New York handled $4,000 reams of
wax paper. This year their trade will be
100000 reams. Not only for wrapping
candy is this paper invaluable, but fine
cutlery, hardware, ETC., encased in waxed
paper is safe from the encrOachment of
rust or dampness. Fish and butter and a
score of other articles are also thus
wrapped, and there seems literally no end
to the uses found for the paper saturated
with this pure hydro-carbon. In the
chemists laboratory it is invaluable as a
coating for articles exposed to all manner
Of powerful dissolyants; brewers find it a
capital thing for coating the interior of
barrels, and the maker of wax flowers
Stimulates nature in sheets of paraffine.
And yet, until Drake drilled his oil well
in 1859, the existence in this country of
this boon to civilization was unsupported,
and it lay in the depths of Pennsylvania
rocks, where thousands, possibly millions,
of years ago it was stored by the hand Of
an all-wise Creator.