BITUMEN, ASPEALTUM, PETROLEUM, ETC. 223 



gravel roof, or stone pavement. Asphaltitm is also found in other localities 

 in Switzerland. 



OZOCERITE. 



This is quite different in appearance yet closely related to the above. 

 It is in part a native paraffin, has a general yellow or yellowish brown to 

 dark color, and is of a waxy appearance — indeed it much resembles bees- 

 wax, especially when refined; is soft and easily pressed with the finger 

 nail. Hoffstadster's analysis of two specimens give: A, with melting point 

 of 61°, carbon 84.94, hydrogen 14.87; B, with melting point 65°, carbon 

 85.78, hydrogen 14.29.* It is soluble in ether, turpentine or naptha. The 

 products are a wax or resin, both of a delicate white and yellow. Candles 

 are made of it, but they do not possess a pleasant odor. It occurs in a bi- 

 tuminous clay, associated with calciferous beds, in the Carpatians; also in 

 sandstone and shale of the Cretaceous formation, from forty to one hundred 

 and sixty metres from the surface. The Ozocerite at the Centennial was 

 from BoryslaWj'in Gallicia. At this place it is associated with rock salt, 

 asphaltum and fibrous gypsum, the latter penetrated by asphaltana. The 

 annual production of Boryslaw amounts to 15,000,000 kilogrammes, worth 

 eight to twenty kreutzers per kilogramme, or four and one-half to seven 

 pence per pound. It is also found at Slanik, Moldavia, Gaming in Austria, 

 in Transylvania, and at Uphall in Linlithgowshire, also near Lake Baikal. 



COORONGITE, ELATERITE IN PART, OF DANA, ELASTIC BITUMEN — MINERAL 



CAOUTCHOUC. 



Elaterite has been considered a carbo-hyduogen, near ozocerite, of which 

 Dana gives carbon 84.3, hydrogen 12.5, the loss probably wholly or in part 

 of oxygen. 



Coorongite, in a condensed form, resembles crude India-rubber, occur- 

 ring generally in sheets, varying in thickness from that of coarse brown 

 paper to an inch thick, these evidently being the result of evaporation on 

 the surface. It is found along the Coorong coast of South Australia, for 

 over a hundred miles in length, and an average breadth of twenty miles. f 

 Over this area it may be collected in drops, floating on the water of re- 

 cently sunk wells, or in crevices of the underlying limestones, or in patches 

 of various areas, from very small to several acres, of a leathery consist- 

 ency, or else diffused through a diatomaceous earth, forming a black petro- 

 leoid matter. Bitumen is also found. 



Coorongite burns freely with a reddish flame, melting like bitumen, 

 emitting but little odor. It produces an oil, a tar, and a white wax, or 

 paraffin, and has been made into a brilliant illuminating kerosene oil, 

 said to be non-explosive, and not inflammable under a temperature of 150°. 

 Considerable oil can also be made from the distillation of the soil of the 

 district. Elastic bitumen has also been found in Derbyshire, accompanied 



— — ■ — — i • 



* Dana's Min., p. 732. t The country is mostly jSat, with occasional swamps and some 



salt lakes. 



