It is not necessary here to describe the various processes of manufacture; it will be sufficient to enumerate some of the forms of ozokerite, and the uses to which it is put. At Borislau, there are several refineries, where candles, tapers, and lubricating oils are made. In Vienna, there are five factories; in one of these, they make white wax, wax candles, matches, yellow beeswax, black heel-ball, colored tapers, and crayon pencils. In Europe, large quantities of the yellow wax are used to wax the floors of the houses, many of the finer ones being waxed every day. It is a curious fact that the Catholic Church does not allow the use of paraffine, sperm, or stearine candles; at the same time nearly all the candles used in the churches in Europe are made from ozokerite, which is a natural paraffine, made from petroleum in nature's laboratory. In the United States, the only uses made of ozokerite, so far as I know, are chewing gum and the adulteration of beeswax. In this the Yankee gives another illustration of the ruling passion strong in money making, which gives us wooden nutmegs, wooden hams, shoddy cloth, glucose candy, chiccory coffee, oleomargarine butter, mineral sperm oil made from petroleum, and beeswax made without bees.
After this paper was written, the following translation from a pamphlet, published by the First Hungarian Galician Railway Company, in 1879, came to my notice. The writer's name is not published:
"Mineral wax, in the condition in which it is taken from the shafts, is not well adapted for exportation, since it occurs with much earthy matter; and, at any rate, an expensive packing in sacks would be necessary. It is therefore first freed from all foreign substances by melting, and cooled in conical cakes of about 25 kilos. weight, and these cakes are exported. There are now, in Borislau, 25 melting works, which, in 1877, with 1 steam and 60 fire kettles, produced 95,000 metric centners (9,500,000 lb.).
"The melted earth wax is sent from Borislau to almost all European countries, to be further refined. Outside of Austro-Hungary, we may specially mention Germany, England, Italy, France, Belgium, and Russia as large purchasers of this article of commerce.
"PRODUCTS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS.
"The products of mineral wax, are:
"(a.) Ceresine, also called ozocerotine or refined ozokerite, a product which possesses a striking resemblance to ordinarily refined beeswax. It replaces this in almost all its uses, and, by its cheapness, is employed for many purposes for which beeswax is too dear. It is much used for wax candles, for waxing floors, and for dressing linen and colored papers. Wax crayons must be mentioned among these products. The house of Offenheim & Ziffer, in Elbeteinitz, makes them of many colors. These crayons are especially adapted to marking wood, stone, and iron; also, for marking linen and paper, as well as for writing and drawing. The writings and drawings made with these crayons can be effaced neither by water, by acids, nor by rubbing.
"Concerning the technical process for the production of ceresine, it should be said that, when the industry was new (the production of ceresine has been known only about eight years, since 1874), it was controlled by patents, which are kept secret. This much is known, that the color and odor are removed by fuming sulphuric acid.
"From mineral wax of good quality about 70 per cent. of white ceresine is obtained. The yellow ceresine is tinted by the addition of coloring matter (annatto).
"(b.) Paraffine, a firm, white, translucent substance, without odor. It is used, chiefly, in the manufacture of candles, and also as a protection against the action of acids, and to make casks and other wooden vessels water-tight, for coating corks, etc., for air-tight wrappings, and, finally, for the preparation of tracing paper. There are several methods of obtaining paraffine from ozokerite (see the Encyclopedic Handbook of Chemistry, by Benno Karl and F. Strohmann, vol. iv., Brunswick, 1877).