The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-06-27
A Wonderful New Substance.

Among the most interesting develop
ments which have followed in the wake
OF the discovery of petroleum is the i'm
mense trade which has, sprang up in
ozokerite, or ozocerite, as Webster has
1t. No fairer substance ever sprung
from the most unpromising parentage
than the snowy. pure, tasteless. opaies-
cent wax which Is evolved from the
loud smelling, pitchy dregs of the
petroleum still.
The remarkable properties of ozo-
kerite has won for it . field of utility
in which it reigns well nigh supreme
This comely, impressionable artil lie,
with all its smooth soft beauty, defes
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 mois-
ture. Its advent seems to have been .
spe 'ial dispensation in this age of cleo
tricity. ----.--,,---.-----
Every overhead electric light cable,
or underground conduit. or slender
wire. cunningly wrapped with cotton
thread; all these owe their fitness for
conducting the subtle fluid to the pres
ence of this wax. And in still more ia
miliar forms let us outline the utility of
this substance. Every gushing school
girl who sinks her VIII te teeth into
chewing gum chews this paraifine 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 con-
fectiOnery is due to the presence of this
ingredient of etroleum, used to give
the articles certain consistency, as the
laundress uses starch. So that pro-
duct taken from the dirtiest, worst
smelling of tars finds its way to the
miilionairt's mansion, an honored sery-
itor. Ii aids to make possible the cleo
trio radiance that floods his rooms: or.
in the form OF wax candles, sheds q
softer luStre over the scene. 1t pol
ishes the floor for the feet of his guests
AMI it meltS in their mouths in the cost
lest candies
For the insulation of electric wire,
paralline wax has to-day no successful
rival. and the growth Of the demand
for this purpose keeps pace with the
marvellous electric lighting system. A
single Chicago concern buys paraffine
wax in this city by the car load. Its
price is but half of that of beeswax, and
yet the older wax Yields readily to sui
phuric or other acid, this being a test
Tor the presence of beeswax in par
atfine. The demand for paraffine for
candles as yet heads the list. Then
comes the needs of the paper consum-
ers. In 1877 single firm in New York
handled 1900 reams of wax paper.
This year their trade will be $4,000
reams. Not only for wrapping candy
is this paper invaluable, but fine cutie
~, hardware, &c, encased in waxed
paper Is safe from the encroachment
OF rust or dampness. Fish and butter
and 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 invalu-
able as coating for articles exposed to
all manner of powerful dissolvents;
brewers find it a capital thing for coat
ing the interior of barrels, and the max
er of wax flowers Stimulates nature in
sheets of paraiiine. ........ .Hu.
And yet, until Drake drilled his oil
well in 1859, the existence in this coun-
try of this boon to civilization was I'M
suspected, 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 Crea-
tor. -Indepenkent Record. ......