ON THE SOCIAL BENEFITS OF PARAFFIN. 71 



gradually being replaced by the beautiful sperm-like parf- 

 fin candle ; and, in addition to this, the greedy engines 

 that have consumed so much of the olive oil and the tallow 

 are learning to be satisfied with lubricators made from 

 minerals kindred to themselves. 



The peasants of the sunny South will feed upon salads 

 made doubly unctuous and nutritious by the abundant oil ; 

 their fried meats, their pastry, omelettes, and sauces will be 

 so much richer and better than heretofore, and the Russian 

 will enjoy more freely his well-beloved and necessary tal- 

 low, when the candle is made and the engine lubricated 

 with the fat extracted from coals and stones which no hu- 

 man stomach can envy. I might travel on to China and 

 tell of the work that paraffin and paraffin oils have yet to 

 do among the many millions there and in other countries 

 of the East. The great wave of mineral light has not yet 

 fairly broken upon their shores ; but when it has once 

 burst through the outer barriers, it will, without doubt, 

 advance with great rapidity, and with an influence whose 

 beneficence can scarcely be exaggerated. 



(The above was written in the early days of paraffin lamps, 

 and while the writer was engaged in the distillation of 

 paraffin oils, etc., from the Leeswood cannel. These are 

 now practically superseded by American petroleum of simi- 

 lar composition, but distilled in Nature's oilworks. The 

 anticipations that appeared Utopian at the time of writing 

 have aince been fully realized, or even exceeded, as the 

 wholesale price of mineral oil has fallen from two shillings 

 per gallon to an average of about eightpeuce, and lamps 

 have been greatly improved. At this price the cost of main- 

 taining a light of given power in an ordinary lamp is about 

 equal to that of ordinary London gas, if it were supplied at 

 one shilling per thousand cubic feet. The mineral oil, 

 being a fine hydrocarbon, does far less mischief than gas by 

 its combustion, as may be proved by warming a conservatory 

 with a paraffin stove and another with a stove. In the 

 latter all the delicate plants will be killed; in the first they 

 scarcely suffer at all. If these facts were generally under- 

 stood we should be in a better position for battle with the 

 gas monopolies. The importation of petroleum to the 



