1 882. 4Y Trans. N. V. Ac. Set. 



ing story is told of its discovery. A church at Modena was robbed ; 

 among other articles taken was a quantity ot wax candles. A short 

 time afterwards, a woman brought to a druggist a quantity of wax and 

 offered it for sale. The druggist bought it and afterwards suspected it 

 consisted of the stolen candies melted down. Soon afterward she 

 brought another lot. He had her arrested. When questioned by the 

 magistrate, she said she found the wax in the clay on her farm, about 

 twenty miles from the city. This story confirmed him in the belief 

 that she had stolen the candles, or was the receiver of the stolen goods ; 

 for such a thing as a deposit of wax in the soil was unheard of. She 

 was therefore remanded to jail. On three several days, she was 

 brought before the Court, and, when questioned, told the same story. 

 She was a member of the church, and requested the priest to be sent tor. 

 He came, and, after an interview between them, he said it was easy to 

 •disprove her story, if it was a lie, by sending her home, in company 

 with an officer, to investigate. The Court sent the priest, who was the 

 only one who believed her. On coming to her house, she took her pick 

 and shovel, and going to the place at the top of the hill, >^he dug out of 

 the clay a quantity of white ozokerite, proved her case, and was at once 

 set at liberty. She performed the same service for me, and I saw her 

 dig the specimen and heard her tell the story as I have told it to you. 

 The hill was composed of loose clay and stones. It appeared as if it 

 had been forced up by gas or some power from below the surface. 

 The quantity that could be gathered, by one person, laboring con- 

 stantly for a week, was only twenty-five or thirty pounds. An attempt 

 had been made to sink a shaft ; but, at a depth of fourteen feet, the 

 pressure of the clay was sufificient to break the boards that held up the 

 sides. The earth caved in and the shaft was abandoned. 



It is not necessary here to describe the various processes of manu- 

 facture, it will be sufificient to enumerate some of the forms of ozoke- 

 rite, 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 pf 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 



