Morning journal and courier., 1889-02-26

great that 1t ig difficult fog the Austrian gov ernment even to make surveys and secure reports. By spending seven or eight months
 in Galicia, and by the aid of friends and the use of ingenious disguises, MT. Kroupa &C., complished his object. Sometimes as 6 min ing engineer or electrician, and again as . tourist, mineralogist, or geological student, he worked in the mines and refineries, via- tied manufacturers and consumers, hob- nobbed with the makers of refining machin- cry, and gained access to the patent offices, gradually but surely extracting and assimi lating the information he sought.
 He discovered that the main deposits of
 ozekerite are in the mining region of the Carpathian range, where petroleum, rock
 salt, potassium ohlorides, sulphur and brown coal are also found. Boryslaw, place of 12,000 inhabitants, is the principal one of
 half dozen mining towns that are almost
 entirely supported by the industry. Here
 the salt clay or wax-bearing formation is found at depth of from 20 to 70 feet, under
 layers of peat, clay and sand, in close prox- imity to rock salt deposits and slate rich in fossils, all being impregnated with oil. At Truskawies, not far away, there are surface veins of ozokerite, and the ground is honey
 eombed with shafts and wells. black oil,
 which is used for a1le-grease and all kinds of lubricants, also abounds. This oil filters
 through the earth crevicss, and by pressure,
 heat and general chemical decs nposition forms the wax. The mining :, some
 cases by windlasses and buckets snual labor oceording to most primitive >ods
 being employed, while in others peIt~eted
 machinery is used. Blasting is so danger ous that it is rarely permitted, disastrous ex-
 plosions which freed large volumes of gas under tremendous pressure, and filled shafts and levels so rapidly that the escape of miners was impossible, having made this prohibition necessary. Another danger to which the undergro und workers are exposed ia ha infn afo hidden deposit of semi-liquid wax. In one instance a shaft was filled in single night by such a flood, which destroyed several lives, but yielded to the owner of the mine 30,000 horins' worth of ozokerite. The gases which are continually escaping make the work of the miners most unhsalthful and they are able to remain underground but four hours at time. The shafts in the Galicia ozokerite mines have been sunk in places to depth of 800 feet with paying re- sults.
 At the seaboard crude ozokerite is worth about $130 per ton, and the grade known as Hooh Prima brings e30 per ton delivered in London.
 Having finished his researches abroad, Mr. Kroupa returned to this country to apply his knowledge. The ozokerite of Utah he pro- nounced to be identical with that of Galicia, but generally of better grade, while the deposits are far more extensive. Subjected to a greater pressure under the ponderous weight of the rugged western mountains, and surrounded by absorbent clays, foreign substances have been detached and eliminat- ed from the American wax, leaving much of it almost pure. The mineral runs in veins, some of those thus far discovered be- ing from to 12 inches in width. From one of those deposits 8 block weighing $500 pounds has been taken out, and the mining promises to be comparatively easy, either by tunnell or sinking shafts. The crude ozokerite varies in color from light yellow to brown or black, and when refined becomes as yellow as beeswax or white as paraffne. A company with $1,250, 900 capital stock has been formed by MT. Wallace and his associates, and the development of what promises to be most important industry is being pushed.
 It is impossible at present to enumerate all the uses to which ozokerite may be put, as American ingenuity is finding in it a most profitable field for experiment. As the rival of beeswax it has already reduced the price of that product from 40 to 25 cents @ pound, and this reduction will be increased as the cost of producing ozokerite decreases. But ceresin possesses many valuable quail ties not found in other wax. Its melting point is high-from 155 degrees to 190 de- grees Fahrenheit; it is plastic without being soft and hard without brittleness; it is de- eolorized with destructive distillation, alkalis and the strongest acids make no
 
 odorless and tasteless. Electric wires are perfectly insulated by it, as leading electric companies have discovered to their advan- tage. It is valuable for all kinds of water proofng, and papers waxed with it are be- ing largely used in wrapping soaps, steels, books, and all kinds of articles that re- guire protection from moisture. Boxes, tubs, barrels and kegs lined with it are perfectly tight, and impart no unpleasant flavor to the contents, even if they are the most delicate mineral waters. The ozokerite perrleatss the pores of the wood instead of merely giving it surface coating. Ozok 1 erite is also used in lining iron tanks in l which powerful acids ara to be mixted. It ! is estimated that three-fourth of the candles ! used in the churches of this and other ! countries are made of ozokerite or beeswax strongly adnlterated with it. The iliumina- ting power of such candles is stronger than that of other, while they drip but little, and never loop over when subjected to or l dinary atmospheric heat. All wax figures | and wax dolls are made of ozokerite, which l also enters largely into the manufacture of ! imitation alabaster statuettes, and the l elaborate decorations which sometime adorn wedding cakes and other cenfections. Among other uses to which it is put are the l making of liniments, salves and plssters, | sealing wax, wax matches, life-preservers. l boot-blacking, varnishes, shoemakers' wax, l all kinds of In kric