H 



I N DILATORY FORCES. LIGHT. 



[I-ARAKFINK. 



v colouring unit tor of plaat* (ChlorojihyU* 



The wax .: commerce U procured from the 



honey comb ; tin- comb It-ing first afiowi n in 



I the honey, aft<-r which it is In.ilcd up 

 will) ater. and pmnittod to stand until cold, uln -n tin- 

 wax solidities ii[ i. M *'"' surface as a brownish-yellow 

 cake. This is pmit'u-d ami bleached by the following 



. -wo: The wax U cut by machinery int<i very mnall 

 havings, and put into a vnt with water, ami a little 

 concentrated sulphuric acid tin- pro|>ortion of acid 

 a pint t. cam is tlit'ii Mown into the vat 



1-v mean* of a coiled pi with holes ; and the 



mixture is kept in constant agitation. Aftt-ra time it 

 is allowed to stand quiet, when the impurities subside to 

 tin- iKittom. ainl tin- wax floats to the surface as a clear 

 ami almost colourless liquid. It is now run into a 

 trough named a cradle, which has a number of holes 

 about the size of a quill in the bottom of it. This trough 

 is placed over a drum or wooden cylinder, which revolves 

 in a tank of water: tin- melted wax, running in small 

 streams upon the revolving wet drum, is floated off ui>n 

 the surface of the water in the form of exceedingly thin 

 strips or flakes, called ribbons. These are collected at 

 the opposite end of the tank ; and, after being drained in 

 baskets, they are spread out upon tables, and exposed to 

 the air ami liyht to Meach. This occupies a period of 

 from five to> ten weeks, during which the flakes are fre- 

 quently wetted and turned. They are also melted and 

 ribboned once or twice during the process, in order that 

 fresh surfaces may be exposed, and the whole acted on 

 in a uniform manner. 'When the wax is sufficiently white 

 it is melted in vats, and cast into thin cakes. 



Different kinds of wax bleach with different degrees of 



y: thus the wax of England, Hamburg, Odessa, 

 Portugal, Mogador, Zanzibar, the East and West Indies, 

 and North America, bleach very rapidly ; while those of 

 it/ic, Konigsberg, Gabon, and Gambia, bleach 

 with dilliculty ; and the soft mahogany-coloured wax of 

 the Brazils cannot be bleached at all. 



1'ure wax is solid up to the temperature of 148, but 

 unblea.-licd wax melts at from 144 to 146. It contains 

 alx.ut twenty-two per cent, of a peculiar fatty acid (cerotic) 

 which was formerly named cerine ; and the remainder 

 consists of a compound substance named myrtciiie, which 

 Mr. Brodie says is composed of the solid acid of palm oil 

 (fHitmitif), and a species of alcohol, which he has named 

 b of melissyl. Chinese wax is entirely free from 

 uiyricine, and is made up of cerotic acid and an alcohol 

 named oxide of eerutyl. Cerine and myricine are distin- 

 gu is I ied from each other by the following properties : 



:ie is soluble in boiling alcohol, from which it is 

 deposited as the spirit cools ; but myricine is wholly 

 insoluble in that menstruum. Cerine melts at from 

 162 to 1"2, while myricine fuses at as low a temperature 

 as 147. 



Wax candles are rarely composed of puro wax, but 

 consist of wax and stearine, or stearic acid, in various 

 proportions. Tin- IM miles of commerce are very irregular 



inbiiKtion ; in fa.-t, they burn from 135 to 175 grains 

 -f wax per Imur; and they give a light wliich varies from 

 one up to three, according to the condition of the wick. 

 At the l>et of times the livht of wax is, weight for weight 

 consumed, about one-sixth less than that of sperm: i. 



^ 'i ""' iinploy inui'li wax in tlu's country for 

 candle-making, as preference is now given to sperm and 

 stearic candles ; but, on the continent, it is still made 

 use of to a great extent in the fabrication of candles for 



ions piir|ioscx, and also for holiday and fete occa- 



. In tl! Greek church, wax and oil are the only 

 illuminating agents allowed ; and, in the I ,urch, 



largo wax tapers are also employi .1 ilnrinu' divine service. 

 These, u well as the candles for weddings, fr'trx, and 

 taint-days, are generally ornamented either with spirals 

 of gold, or with different devices in colours the colours 



artificial ultramarine for blue; a mixture < 



M and emerald green, or verdigris alone-, for - 

 chroma to of lead, or gamlioge. for yellow; veniiiHion for 

 ret) ; and madder hike, or alkanet root, for pink. The 



best description of candle inannfat tured from wax is the 

 vn'ittir-liijlit, wliich i used either for night watching or 

 for heating dishes on the table. On the continent these 

 lights are termed tviVlrtuu. 



i-tiffitie. Alx.iit twelve years ago, the sagacity of 

 Liebig led him to remark, that " it would certainly be 

 esteemed one of the greatest discoveries of the age, if 

 any one could succeed in condensing coal gas into a 

 white, dry, solid, odourless substance, portable, and 

 capable of beiu-j placed upon a candlestick or burin d 

 in a lamp."* In the course of the last few years this 

 grand result has been effected ; indeed, we may say that 

 the germ of the discovery was brought to light more 

 than twenty years ago, by the researches of Reiclienbach 

 and C'hristison. The former of these chemists showed 

 that the thick heavy oil procured by the distillation of 

 tar from beech-wood, contained a solid crystalline body, 

 which he named juimjfinr ; ami the latter, in examining 

 'K>n petroleum, discovered a substance which he 

 called jietrMne. Both of these compounds are identical 

 in their chemical composition with the illuminating 

 principles of coal gas, and they are now known to be 

 one and the same thing. The term paratlinc is still 

 employed to designate the substance, in consequence 

 of its weak affinities (from parum, little, and <ir 

 affinity). Since that time, it has been procured by Mr. 

 Rees Reeoe and Sir Robert Kane, from peat: by .M. 

 Ettling and Mr. Brodie, from wax ; by Mr. Young, from 

 Boghead coal ; and by others, from the bituminous 

 schists of England, France and Germany. In all cases 

 it is obtained by destructive distillation ; and the follow- 

 ing are the processes which are commonly employed. 



The plan proposed by Reichenbach was to distil wood- 

 tar to dryness, and to separate the heavy oil which is 

 thus obtained, from the water and light oil that also 

 come over during the process. This is distilled a second 

 time, and only the last portions are retained. Ti 

 are treated with concentrated sulphuric acid, then with 

 water, and finally with boiling alcohol, from which the 

 paraffine separates in the form of crystalline plates as 

 the spirit cools. 



Mr. Recce's process is to distil peat in a sort of blast 

 furnace, to the top of wliich a condensing worm is at- 

 tached. The air supplied at the bottom of the f u i : 

 keeps up an imperfect combustion of the peat, and the 

 products are conveyed into the worm, where they are 

 condensed. The greasy tar which subsides is collected 

 and heated to a temperature of 100; it is then sub- 

 mitted to the action of strong sulphuric acid, and after- 

 wards boiled in water. The parafliue collects on the 

 surface, and solidities as the water cools. It is now 

 ready for distillation ; and when so treated, it furnishes 

 three products namely, a very ligjit oil (n^moi), which 

 first comes over ; then a heavy oil ; and finally paraffine. 

 The light oil is separated from the mixture of the other 

 two by decantation. When the latter is allowed to cool, 

 the paraffine separates in the form of very minute grains : 

 and on submitting the pasty mass to pressure in linen 

 bags, the oil is squeezed out, and the paraflino obtained 

 in an impure condition. The next step of the process is 

 to deprive the paraflino of its smell and colour by the 

 aid of chlorine and chromic acid; it is then washed, 

 redi-tilled. cooled, and pressed a second time. Finally, 

 it is submitted to the action of steam until it is perfect n 

 white and free from odour. It is said that a thousand 

 pans of Irish peat will furnish from ten to twelve of 

 paraffine. 



Mr. Young's process is somewhat similar to the last, 

 but he employs Boghead coal in the place of peat. The 

 coal is distilled from a closed retort at a low red-heat, 

 and the products are treat, d in the same way as the 

 One hundred parts of Bathgate coal will yield about 

 forty of oil which is fit for lubricating machinery, and 

 ten of paraffine. 



Two yean ago, a patent was obtained by Mr. Brown 

 for the preparation of this substance from bituminous 

 coal and bituminous schist. The process which he 

 adopts is not essentially different from Mr. Young's. 

 Familiar Letter* on t?A#mu/ry, p. 15s. 



