"The details of the technical process consists, in every case, in the distillation of the crude material, pressure of the distillate by hydraulic presses, melting, and treating by sulphuric acid.
"In the manufacture of paraffine from ozokerite, there are produced from 2 to 8 per cent. of benzine, from 15 to 20 per cent. of naphtha, 36 to 50 per cent. of paraffine, 15 to 20 per cent. of heavy oil for lubricating, and 10 to 20 per cent. of coke, as a residue.
"(c.) Mineral oils, which are obtained at the same time with paraffine, and are the same as those produced from crude petroleum, described above. The process consists, as in the natural rock oils, besides the distillation, in the treatment of the incidental products with acids and alkalies.
"Of the products of ozokerite, manufactured in Galicia, the greater part goes to Russia, Roumania, Turkey, Italy, and Upper Hungary. The common paraffine candles made in Galicia--which are of various sizes, from 28 to 160 per kilo--are used by the Jews in all Galicia, Bukowuina, Roumania, Upper Hungary, and Southern Russia, and form an important article of commerce. Ceresine is exported to all the ports of the world. Of late a considerable quantity is said to have been sent to the East Indies, where it is used in the printing of cotton."
The President, Dr. J. S. Newberry, stated that ozokerite was undoubtedly a product of petroleum. Little was known by the public concerning its use and value. He exhibited specimens of natural brown ozokerite, of yellow ozokerite, sold as beeswax, and of a white purified form, which had been treated by sulphuric acid. Specimens from Utah had already been shown before the Academy. There was no mystery as to its genesis in either region, as it had been shown to be the result of inspissation of a thick and viscid variety of petroleum. The term "petroleum" includes a great variety of substances, from a limpid liquid, too light to burn, to one that is thick and tarry. These differ widely also in chemical composition: some yielding much asphalt by distillation, resembling a solution of asphalt in turpentine; some containing so much paraffine that a considerable quantity can be strained out in cold weather. The asphalt in its natural form is a solid rock, to which the term "gum beds" has been applied in Canada. These differences in constitution have originated in the differences in the bituminous shales from which the petroleum, ozokerite, etc., have been derived. In Canada, as excavations are sunk through the asphalt, this becomes softer and softer, and finally passes into petroleum. This is also the case in Utah.
[Concluded from SUPPLEMENT No. 400, page 6390.]
[KANSAS CITY REVIEW.]