Paraffin first became important in the manufac ture of paraffin or wax candles, in which it has al most completely displaced the sperm candle and tallow " dip." Persistent efforts in booming its use and placing it on the market in convenient form have succeeded, however, in making paraffin an indispensable article in a variety of manufacturing processes as well as in ordinary household use. The enumeration of a few of these will illustrate its value. In the manufacture of matches, it is used as a coating for the heads to make them waterproof, and it finds a similar use in waterproofing fabrics. It is used as a lining for barrels; in glazing paper ; and in the manufacture of " wax " or " oil " paper; in the manufacture of ornaments from gypsum and other minerals ; in laundry work ; as a preservative for foods of all sorts, especially in the domestic canning of fruits ; in waxing flowers ; to protect labels and stoppers in bottles of corro sive liquids ; in electrical work as an insulator ; as the basis of chewing gum ; and for a host of other uses of every description.
Besides these uses of the principal products al ready enumerated, there are a multitude of other ways in which petroleum compounds are employed. The lighter products are used as solvents for caout chouc, various fatty oils, and especially to dissolve resin in the manufacture of varnish. They are used as substitutes for turpentine in mixing the cheaper grades of paints, in extracting oils from seeds, in the manufacture of linoleums or oilcloths, in extracting greases from leather, in the prepara tion of jute, in dry cleansing, and so on. The
crude oil is used to kill insects, as in the successful campaign against mosquitoes in many malarial dis tricts or against the San Jose scale on fruit trees. It is used to protect animals against certain pests, as the gadfly, and to cure various skin diseases. It preserves piles and wharf timbers from the injuri ous action of water and the many destructive forms of animal and plant life, being just as effective as the more expensive creosoting. It is used very widely and successfully on railways and on mac adam carriage roads to prevent the dust nuisance, being much more lasting and far more efficient than water. From the tar valuable dyes are made and even the coke from the tar still is ground and made into electric-light carbons, artists' crayons, and the like.
The whole realm of common uses for petroleum products is almost beyond conception. Some faint idea of the tremendous importance of the petrole um industry in its relation to other industries may be gained from the simple statement that, save for the water he drinks and the air he breaths, every possible necessity of a man's life may be supplied either directly or indirectly through the use of pe troleum products; even his supply of water may be pumped by a gasoline engine.