limited, he is ornamental as a companion to old
customers and a guarantee of respectability to
new acquaintances.

PARAFFINE.

WHENCE the paraffine about which we read so
much in the newspapers? How was it discovered,
where is it obtained, what are its properties,
by what means is it manufactured?
Daily we read of its marvellous capabilities,
its destructive powers, and the numerous and
strange uses to which it can be applied. Occasionally
we are startled with reports of terrible
disasters which it has occasioned: railway trains
burnt to ashes, as at Abergele recently; houses
blown into ruins and the inhabitants maimed
and killed; heads of quiet households startled
into hysterics by the unexpected explosion of
the evening lamps; ships lost at sea by incautious
stowage of the barrels containing the
liquid. Painfully familiar is the reading public
with the name of paraffine; but to most persons
it is a name and nothing more.

And yet its history has in it something of romance.
The discovery of the mineral from
which it is extracted was an accident. Its
manufacture was for a long time a secret. The
profits which arose from its production gave rise
to a law-suit, as famous and interminable as those
of Plainestanes v. Peebles, or Jarndyce v. Jarndyce.
Its production suddenly raised a poor,
almost unknown, district, into a thriving and
populous seat of industry. Added to all this,
the processes to which it is subjected are among
the most curious and interesting in modern
chemistry.

The word paraffine is almost new to the language,
its introduction dating back only so far
as the year 1847. About that time, Professor
Lyon Playfair, who was travelling in Derbyshire,
had his attention drawn to a thick, dark,
oily fluid trickling from some rents in a coal
mine. The peculiarity of the liquid arrested his
thoughts; and after due calculation and experiment,
he arrived at the conclusion that this substance,
which was, through ignorance, allowed
to run to waste, contained properties of a very
remarkable and valuable character. Being himself
occupied with other investigations, he communicated
the result of his observations to Mr.
James Young, an acquaintance of an analytical
turn of mind, and encouraged him to conduct
experiments with the view of testing the qualities
of the crude and mysterious liquor. Acting
upon the hints thus given, and sustained by
strong hopes of a successful issue, that gentleman
took the matter in hand, bringing to the
prosecution of the work great experience, perseverance,
and no inconsiderable degree of
knowledge as a practical chemist. The result
far exceeded his expectations. Subjected to
distillation, the coarse fluid yielded a pale yellow-
coloured oil, full of floating lustrous particles.
Further experiments proved these to
be crystals of paraffine—a substance then only
known to the learned. This discovery led to
the establishment in Derbyshire of a small
manufactory, for distilling burning and lubricating
oils from the coarse petroleum issuing
from the coal-mine. The venture proved exceedingly
remunerative; and for two years a
pretty extensive trade in the new oils was
maintained.

Suddenly the supply of the raw material
ceased: the trickling stream of coarse petroleum
was dried up; and the manufactory was stopped.
The untoward event caused much chagrin to
the proprietor, who was beginning to look forward
with assurance to the foundation of a
highly profitable source of commerce. He found
himself at once cut off from employment, and
the experiments which had cost him so much
toil and anxiety threatening to become valueless.
Indomitable will saved him from despair.
He felt persuaded that a substitute could be
found for the petroleum, and to the discovery
of this his energies were directed. Reflection
and observation had, some time before, caused
him to arrive at the conclusion that the crude
petroleum was produced by simple natural
causes; and further study of the subject convinced
him that those causes were merely the
gradual distillation of coal by means of subterranean
heat. This was a great step in advance.
Prospects of success again dawned upon him,
and he looked forward to the early resumption
of his manufactory. One desideratum only remained,
and that was to be able to produce an
artificial petroleum equal to the natural rock-
oil, the supply of which he had exhausted.
This difficulty also yielded to perseverance; and
after two years' investigations in the laboratory,
he found that a liquid of an oleaginous kind,
similar in its properties to the natural oil, was
obtained by subjecting coal to distillation at a
low temperature.

These preliminary obstacles vanquished, the
next point to be considered was, where to procure
the requisite mineral? Petroleum, it was
found, could be extracted from any coal of a
bituminous nature; but the species known as
cannel coal yielded the largest quantities. Even
this, however, was not sufficiently rich in oil-
producing qualities to induce Mr. Young to revive
the manufacture. He feared that the
expense would be too great, and that the quantity
of petroleum produced would be in very
small proportion to the amount of coal consumed.
Various coal-fields were surveyed, and
numerous investigations were conducted, with
the view of deciding whether a mineral could
not be procured which would yield a fair supply
of oil; but for a long time the result was despaired
of. Almost every coal was suitable,
but none was sufficiently prolific. Clearly, little
prospect of establishing another manufactory!
Just as weariness of the heart, arising from
hope deferred, was setting in, a discovery was
made in Linlithgowshire which gave a new turn
to events, and promised to realise the most
sanguine wishes of the investigator. This was
in the year 1850. Borings, which had been
carried on near Bathgate for some time, made
known the fact that a peculiar kind of coal