AMj?!nUi,'  imRM'\     Paraffin,  Cosmoline  and  Vaseline.  3 
Chewing  gum,  as  has  been  already  stated,  is  the  softer  variety  of  pa- 
raffin ;  although  this  is  apparently  a  very  trivial  and  non-important 
article,  it  is  in  reality  sold  in  enormous  amounts  by  many  of  the  whole- 
sale confectioners.  The  manufacturers  of  friction  matches  are  heavy 
purchasers  of  paraffin,  which  they  use  for  impregnating  the  sticks,  so 
that  they  will  more  readily  ignite,  and  burn  with  greater  uniformity. 
Of  late,  paraffin  is  also  beginning  to  be  used  extensively  for  the  pur- 
pose of  sizing  various  textile  fabrics.  Paraffin  or  ozokerite  candles 
are  well  known,  and  they  are  confidently  asserted  to  produce  a  finer 
light  than  any  other  variety.  Confectioners  also  use  paraffin  to  im- 
part a  gloss  or  lustre  to  some  of  their  bon-bons,  such  as  cream  choco- 
late drops  and  others. 
In  Europe,  paraffin  has  in  addition  been  used  for  water-proofing 
various  woven  goods,  for  coating  the  interior  of  wine  and  beer  barrels, 
for  the  preservation  of  fresco  paintings,  for  the  purpose  of  saturating 
cork  and  paper,  as  a  sizing  or  finish  for  leather  and  small  articles 
turned  from  wood  and  bone,  as  a  preservative  of  fruits  and  for  many 
other  similar  applications. 
Returning  to  my  remarks  on  cosmoline  at  the  last  meeting,  I  would 
state  that  I  have  since  then  succeeded  in  obtaining  several  petroleum 
products,  which  furnish  a  more  satisfactory  result  than  the  mixture  of 
neutral  oil  and  crystallized  paraffin.  The  defect  of  this  preparation 
is  that  it  cannot  be  readily  deodorized,  and  that  it  is  of  a  somewhat 
granular  consistence,  instead  of  being  perfectly  smooth  and  homoge- 
neous like  cosmoline.  I  present  herewith  a  sample  of  a  very  heavy, 
gelatinous  paraffin  oil,  of  which  I  have  good  reasons  for  believing  to 
be  the  identical  source  from  which  at  least  one  variety  of  cosmoline  is 
manufactured. 
In  devising  a  process  for  the  purification  of  this  oil,  I  endeavored 
to  imitate  the  method  by  the  action  of  steam,  which  was  alluded  to  in 
my  former  paper.  About  one  ounce  of  the  oil  was  therefore  placed 
in  a  shallow  dish  with,  a  quart  of  water  and  boiled  for  four  hours,  more 
water  being  added  from  time  to  time  as  it  evaporated.  The  oil  na- 
turally spread  itself  in  a  thin  sheet  over  the  surface  of  the  water,  so 
that  all  the  vapor  was  forced  to  pass  through  it,  carrying  along  with 
it  the  small  remnant  of  light  hydro-carbons,  on  which  the  disagreeable 
odor  depends.  At  the  expiration  of  this  time,  the  oi)  was  found  to 
be  tasteless  and  inodorous.  It  was  then  further  purified  by  filtering 
through  prepared  animal  charcoal,  being  kept  liquid  by  being  placed 
