70 
The Aatu / ‘cillsts ’ Con tijanlou. 
Ozocerite; 
OR JMINERAR WAX. 
KY DR. B. F. :MAS0N, SAN RKANDRO, CAR. 
Ozocerite* is like wax, or spermaceti, 
ill appearance and consistency, and is 
usually colorless or white when pure; 
hut often leek gi'een,yellowish or brown. 
The name ozocerite is derived from tlie 
Greek words, ozo, smell, and keros, wax. 
in allusion to its odor and appearanee. 
It is greasy to the touch, and fuses 
between 50^ and 63^ centigi'ade. It is 
one of the hydrocarbon compounds, and 
occurs in coal or associated bituminous 
deposits; that of Slanik. in Molotavia, 
being beneath beds of bituminous clay 
shale, in masses of from forty to a hun¬ 
dred pounds. It is also found at the 
foot of the (Carpathian Mountain, in 
Gallicia, Austria, near beds or coal 
and salt, and in Boryslaw' in bitumin¬ 
ous clay associated with beds of lime. 
The first deposits of ozocerite found 
on the American continent w'ere discov¬ 
ered in Mexico. It was discovered in 
that country while boring for oil, and 
though at first the operatoi-s were ig¬ 
norant of the properties and value of 
the pulpy stone through which they 
were piercing, its oily and wax-like ap- 
])earance attracted their attention, and 
they caj'ried several specimens to a 
cliemist. He immediately informed 
them that the mineral was ozocerite, 
and appraised them of its value. Ar¬ 
rangements w ere at once made for plac¬ 
ing the valuable mineral u[)on the mar¬ 
ket, and soon lai'ge quantities were 
transported to Boston, whei*e it is used 
in the manufacture of a tine and hard 
finish varnish. 
In the United States, ozocerite has 
been discovered in and adjoining Sold¬ 
iers’ Home (’anon in Utali. The south 
side of the canon is com[)osed of bitum¬ 
inous shale alternating Avith gray clay 
containing mineral oil. In these strata 
of clay are found Aortical seams of ozo¬ 
cerite, from six inches to two feet in 
thickness and alAOut fortv feet distant 
from each other. The purest ozocerite 
from this formation yields, by analysis. 
(i5 [)er cent, paraffin wax. 2") [)er cent, 
heavy oil. and 10 pei* cent, residue. 
In the oil bearing i-egions of north¬ 
eastern Utah—bounded on the north by 
the Uintak ^Mountains and on the east 
by the Wahsatch range—deposits of 
ozocerite have been frequently found, 
but varying greatly in quantity.. 
The oil bearing shales of this region 
have been folded in many [)laces by up- 
heavels, and their edges ex})osed by de¬ 
nudation, thus permitinga study of the 
underlying as well as the overlying beds 
Underth6se oil bearing shales is a thick 
bed of fresh-w'ater fossils of the Terti¬ 
ary period. This formation ot fossil 
shells wouhUindicate that the oil is of 
animal origin. A strange feature of 
these beds of oil shales is that in some- 
localities they are rich in oil but poor 
in Avax, Avhile in others they are rich 
in Avax but poor in oil, and again in 
other [)}aces the exudations are com¬ 
posed of asphaltuni. Why this is so, 
is at present a very tantalizing prob¬ 
lem for the geologist to solve. By a 
careful scientific examination of the 
fossiliferous beds underlying the vari¬ 
eties of oil-bearing shales might tend 
to explain the subject. 
As yet no dejiosit of ozocerite has 
been found in this Tertiary basin in 
Utah that equals in richness of purity 
the mineral Avax found in Galicia in 
Austria. But scientific explorations 
in this wonderful and [)romising region 
