The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1884-06-04
WONDERFUL NEW SUBSTANCE.



Among the most interesting development.
which have followed in the wake OF the dis
covery of petroleum is the immense trade
which has sprung up in ozokerite, or ozoce.
rite, as Webster has it. No fairer substance
ever sprung from most unpromising parent
age than the snowy, pure, tasteless, opale.
scent wax which is evolved from the loud
smelling, pitchy dregs of the petroleum
! still.
The remarkable properties of ozolerite
have won for it field of utility in which IL
reigns well nigh supreme. This comely.
! impressionable article, with all its smooth
| soft beauty, defies agents which can DESTROY
the precious metals and eat up the hardest
steel as water dissolyes sugar. sulphuric
and other potent acids have no more effect
ON ozokerite than spring water. 1t is alike
imperyious to acid and to moisture. It's ad-
vent seems to have been a special dispense.
ton in the age of electricity.
Every overhead electric light cable. O,
underground conduit, or slender wire, cum.
ningly wrapped with cotton thread all
these owe their fitness for conducting the
subtle fluid to the presence of this way.
And ~ still more familiar forms let us out.
line the utility of this substance. Ever,
! gushing school girl who sinks her white
teeth into chewing gum. chews this paraffine
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 certain
consistency, as the laundress uses starch.
80 that product taken from the dirtiest,
worst-smelling of tars finds its way TO the
millionaires mansion, an honored seryitor.
II aids to make possible the electric radiance
that Hoods his rooms or, in the form of
wax candles, sheds q softer lustre over the
scene. 1t polishes the floor for the feet Of
his guests and it melts in their mouths in
the costliest candies.
For the insulation of electric wire, paraf-
fine wax has to-day no successful rival, and
the growth of the demand for this purpose
keeps pace with the marvellous growth of
the electric lighting System. A single Chi.
cago concern buys paraffine wax in this city
by the car load. Its price is but half that
Of beeswax, and yet the older wax yields
readily to sulphuric or other acid, this be-
ing test for the presence of beeswax in
parahine. The demand for paraffine foi
candies as yet heads the list Then comes
tho needs of the paper consumers. In 1877
single firm in New York handled $4,000
reams of waxed paper This year their trade
will be $50, 900 reams Not only for wrap.
ping candy is this paper invaluable, but
fine cutlery. hardware, &C., encased in wax
ed paper is safe from the encroachment OF
rust or dampness. Fish and butter and q
score of other articles are also thus wrap.
ped, and there seems literally no end to the
uses fohnd for the paper saturated with this
pure hydro-carbon. In the chemists lab
oratory it is invaluable as coating for
articles exposed to all manner of powerful
dissolyants brewers find it capital thing
for coating tho interior Of barrels, and the
maker of wax flowers stimulates nature in
sheets of paraiiine.
And yet, until Drake drilled his oil well
in 1859, the existence in this country of this
boon to civilization was unsupported, and il
lay in the depths of Pennsylvania rocks,
where thousands, possibly millions, of years
ago it was stored by the hand of an all.wiss
Creator.