212 BULLETIN 139, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



lishment of the whaling industry spermaceti from the head oil of the 

 sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, was added to the mentioned 

 fixed fats. 



Insect waxes used for candles. — Beeswax appears to have an ancient 

 history in the manufacture of candles as tallow, was more prized and 

 had special uses not enjoyed by fat illuminants. Bees were 

 anciently domesticated, as the straw hive of the early Aryans indi- 

 cates. The wax had a number of uses, but there is no record of its 

 employment for candles at an early period. 



Another insect wax is of economic value in China. This wax 

 is the product of Coccus pela Westwood, a scale insect breeding on 

 Ligustrum lucidum, a large-leaved privet, and transferred by the Chi- 

 nese to sprouts of the Fraxinus chinensis, from which the wax yield 

 is gathered in three months. The center of the white-wax industry 

 is Chien Chang, western China.^^ 



Mineral substances for candles. — A natural paraffin called ozokerite, 

 found principally in Galicia, is refined and the product, called cerasin, 

 is used for making candles. ^^ Paraffin as a by-product of the dis- 

 tillation of petroleum is secured in enormous quantities and is now 

 the chief resource of material in the candle industry. 



Candle-maTcing processes. — The candle-making industry has attained 

 great proportions, and even with the competition of advanced illu- 

 mination is still flourishing. Curiously, the increasing employment 

 of candles in decoration has done much to sustain the industry. The 

 product, however, is taken mainly by the churches. Without con- 

 sideration of the modern organized industry, candle making as a 

 local or domestic art will be taken up here. In domestic candle mak- 

 ing little was done in the refining of materials, the physical and 

 chemical properties of which were not known. The method of hard- 

 ening or softening the tallow was almost the only attempt to change 

 the material. There was a minimum of trade in candles, chiefly that 

 arising from the exchange of family sm-plus for goods. 



Formerly in the United States candles were made in molds and by 

 dipping. The latter method was used when quantities of candles 

 were required, enough for a year's consumption or more, as it was 

 thought candles improved by keeping. Molds were used for small 

 lots of well-shaped candles and by people who had little tallow, it 

 was said. 



In making dipped candles a number of thin rods were gotten. 

 These were strung with cotton wicks previously cut to proper length 

 on a cutter and twisted. The wicks were "wet " with tallow to make 

 them sink when dipped and were spaced on the rods. The rods were 

 laid across a frame sometimes improvised or a mortised structure 



" Alex Hosie. Three years in western China. London, 1890. Nature, January 29, 1891, p. 291. 

 « George P. Merrill. Non-Metallic Minerals, New York, 1910. 



