422  The  History  of  Paraffined  Paper.      {A  AugusMsS™' 
artificial  demand  created  by  the  Sherman  law,  led  many  persons  to  believe 
that  the  reduction  would  approximate  the  amount  of  the  Government  pur- 
chases under  that  law,  or  54,000,000  ounces,  which  would  have  been  equiva- 
lent to  practically  wiping  out  the  industry.  The  actual  decrease  in  1894  was 
only  10,654,000  ounces,  or  about  18  per  cent.  The  reduction  still  leaves  the 
United  States  the  greatest  silver  producer  of  the  world,  and  the  industry  is,  and 
will  doubtless  continue  to  be,  a  most  important  one. 
THE  HISTORY  OF  PARAFFINED  PAPER  IN  AMERICA. 
Paraffined  paper  is  an  American  improvement  on  waxed  paper, 
which  was  an  English  invention.  This  waxed  paper  was  made  by 
dipping  sheets  of  paper  into  melted  beeswax.  Such  a  treatment 
rendered  the  paper  impervious  to  moisture  and  grease,  and  in 
England  the  product  found  some  application  in  pharmacy,  and  per- 
haps in  other  arts. 
The  first  use  made  of  waxed  paper  in  America  was  by  William 
Hodgson,  who  conducted  a  pharmacy  at  Tenth  and  Arch  Streets, 
Philadelphia.  This  occurred  in  1854.  Mr.  Hodgson  had  learned 
the  usefulness  of  the  article  from  John  Bell,  the  well-known  English 
pharmacist.  Mr.  Hodgson  used  the  paper  between  spread  plasters 
for  the  purpose  of  preventing  their  sticking  together.  Although 
paper  so  prepared  had  long  been  known  to  writers  upon  scientific 
subjects,  it  found  but  this  limited  application  in  pharmacy  and 
probably  less  use  in  other  arts  until  1865.  But  about  this  time 
the  true  value  of  a  commodity  possessing  its  properties  was  com- 
mencing to  be  appreciated. 
Until  the  year  mentioned  waxed  paper  was  prepared  only  by 
those  who  found  it  applicable  in  their  own  enterprises.  But  the  in- 
creasing consumption  of  the  article  suggested  to  the  firm  of  Mellor 
&  Rittenhouse,  of  Philadelphia,  the  idea  of  manufacturing  it  for 
sale.  To  Mr.  H.  N.  Rittenhouse,  who  was  at  the  time  a  member 
of  that  firm,  but  who  is  now  an  uninterested  party,  we  are  indebted 
for  the  data  of  this  history.  At  this  juncture  we  have  an  example 
of  the  ingenuity  of  American  pharmacy.  Paraffin  was  about  this 
time  beginning  to  claim  some  of  the  attention  which  it  has  since 
been  found  to  merit.  Suspecting  in  that  substance  the  properties 
that  contributed  to  the  peculiar  advantages  possessed  by  waxed 
paper,  this  firm  decided  to  substitute  paraffin  for  the  more  costly 
beeswax  with  which  to  impregnate  the  paper.  This  they  did,  and,  aside 
from  the  important  feature  of  difference  in  cost,  the  greater  beauty  of 
