620 The Philippine Journal of Science 1923 



are eliminated in the process of heating; there remains ceresin, 

 which is a mixture of saturated hydrocarbons of high molecular 

 weight. Ceresin is a species of mineral paraffin wax, but it is 

 distinguished from the substance ordinarily designated paraffin 

 by having a higher molecular weight, a higher melting point, 

 a higher specific gravity, and a higher index of refraction, and 

 by being flexible, noncrystallizable, and less soluble in organic 

 solvents. Ozocerite is mined only for the purpose of obtaining 

 ceresin. This being the case, a mineral which is not composed 

 of ceresin should not be called ozocerite. No ceresin can be 

 obtained from Leyte bitumens by a process of refining similar 

 to that used for refining ozocerite. The paraffin extracted from 

 Leyte bitumens is a hard and nonplastic substance with a pene- 

 tration at 77° F. of 4° while ceresin is a plastic mass whose 

 penetration at the same temperature is 20 to 30°. Finally, 

 ozocerite is, as its name indicates, an odorous wax; the Leyte 

 rocks have no odor at ordinary temperatures. 



A natural mineral wax has been mined for the last thirty 

 years in Colorado which has received no name as a mineralogical 

 species and is commonly referred to as "ozokerite-like wax" or 

 "so-called ozokerite of Colorado." Judging by the descriptions 2 

 the Colorado rock has certain points of resemblance to the Leyte 

 pure bitumen. Like the latter, it does not yield ceresin, this 

 being the reason why it is not classified as an ozocerite, and it 

 produces paraffin wax on being distilled at temperatures above 

 Sb0° C. From the descriptive literature, however, it is evident 

 that it represents a species different from our Leyte bitumen 

 since, unlike the latter, it does not contain a considerable quantity 

 of asphaltenic ingredient insoluble in light petroleum naphtha 

 and m boiling ethyl acetate. The Colorado bitumen, moreover, 

 is pulvenzable, smells of catechu, melts at 76° C, and yields 

 90 per cent of paraffin and oil on distillation. 



Thus we see that our Leyte rocks cannot be classified as any 

 of the known varieties of bitumen and should be given a special 

 name. Leyteite, as it can be called, belongs to the group of 

 mineral waxes and is related to ozocerite more than to any other 

 mineral. 



BITUMEN-IMPREGNATED ROCK 



The samples of this material that I analyzed were obtained 

 from the Lucio mine, the property of the Leyte Asphalt and Min- 

 = Lach, Chem. Ztg. 13 (1889) 831; Joum. Soc. Chem. Ind. 8 (1889) 696. 



