224 FOSSIL HYDRO-CARBONS, THE SOURCE OF LIGHT, HEAT, COLOUR, ETC. 



value of the hydro-carbons as a preservative from the ill-effects of damp 

 'and moisture. 



Some of the hydro-carbons are also conspicuous for their detergent and 

 cleansing properties. Benzole, under its French synonym, of Benzine, has 

 been for many years in favour with the French and English public — and 

 since Price's Candle Company have carried on their interesting manufacture 

 from Rangoon Petroleum, another detergent of great value, under the name 

 of Sherwoodole, has been upon the market, and earned golden reputations. 

 I may just mention, for the benefit of those who are not acquainted with 

 these substances, that grease spots can be easily removed from dresses of 

 all kinds, especially silks, by their agency ; gloves can also be cleaned in 

 the same manner. That great bane of the hydro-carbons, — an unpleasant 

 odour — clings also to these detergents, but does not remain on the garments 

 treated with them after drying. 



Excellent oils and grease for lubricating purposes are to be found among 

 the miscellaneous products of hydrocarbon industry. The grease, which 

 contains a large quantity of solid paraffine in combination, and to which 

 its consistency is attributable, is excellent for railway purposes, also for 

 'carts, &c. The oils, especially those made at Belmont works, as a substi- 

 tute for sperm, are also admirably adapted for their purpose ; they are 

 not exclusively from the fossil hydro-carbons, but contain an admixture of 

 some recent vegetable or animal oils. The oil that was made from peat by 

 the Irish Peat Company, now defunct, was a pure oil, without any admix- 

 ture, of a dark colour, and very limpid, not unlike some of the thinner 

 kinds of rock oil received from the United States. 



A large quantity of ammonia is produced in the manufacture of coal- 

 tar, and peat, and forms, with other ingredients, invaluable manures. Peat, 

 in combination with sea-weed, undergoes some chemical change, that fits it, 

 in like manner, for agricultural purposes, as shewn at page 268 of the first 

 volume of this publication. Peat has also been recommended as a usefid 

 material for paper-making. 



Although I have, for the present, finished my sketch of the fossil hydro- 

 carbons, their history, origin, manufacture, and application, I seem but 

 just to have approached the threshold of this great subject, and on future 

 occasions I hope to consider, in detail, many of its most prominent 

 features, and to do greater justice to a theme so absorbing, and of such vast 

 practical importance. If readers of the Technologist will kindly point 

 out to me any errors they may observe in my statements, they will confer 

 a favour on me personally, and aid in the rescue of a deeply-interesting 

 subject from the darkness of ignorance and indifference. 



