CIO
M' Culloch’s Dictionary of Commerce, p. 228.
Years.
Tallow.
Duty,per lb.
Wax.
Duty,per li>.
Spermaceti.
Duty,per lb.
Net Revenue.
lbs.
lbs.
lbs.
£.
5.
d.
1820
88,352,461
Id.
632,705
3}</.
193,403
3 }</.
373,455
14
5
1821
93,810,346
}
097,196
,
165,G47
395,911
8
7
1822
98,311,801
682,241
179,208
,
415,609
15
3
1S23
102,401,879
y }
094,194
? y
180,401
433,537
15
8
1S24
109,810,900
y y
759,751
179,454
y y
460,042
16
1
1825
114,187,57)0
851,370
} y
208,377
, ,
485,014
8
9
1826
110,102,043
705,015
201,790
467,069
12
1
1827
114,939,578
713.655
? }
226,277
} }
487,318
3
4
1828
117,342,157
748,293
y f
270,263
497,770
2
9
1829
115,156,808
J J
746,052
”
303,683
? J
489,059
1
9
Years.
Cwts.
Years.
Cwts.
1841
1,241.278
1846
1,183,834
1842
1,030,960
1847
1,069,301
1843
1,174,945
1848
1,400,725
1844
1,081,039
1849
1,412,484
1845
1,191,896
1850
1,219,101
Cocoa-nut-oil imported from—
British Possessions in India -British Settlements in AustraliaOther Parts -----
Cocoa-nut-Oil
Importedinto the UnitedKingdom in1850.
Cwts.
85,096
6,315
0,628
Total - - -
98,039Duty free.
Cwts.
Duty
paid.
Tallow imported from—
803,697
£,
60,278
British Settlements in Australia
179,507
752
32,523
2,439
184,321
13,824
Other pans -----
18,993
977
Total - - -
1,219,101
78,270
Of tallow-candles only 1,067 lbs. were imported in thesame year.
In 1830 the quantity of tallow imported into the UnitedKingdom was 1,073,833 cwts.
There are Four Exhibitors of mould-candles, two Eng-lish and two from Dublin. The Irish candles only aredeserving of notice, and may be regarded as the perfec-tion of tallow-candles; indeed it appears that the makersof Dublin have acquired a high reputation for mould-candles, by bestowing great care on the purification oftheir tallow and on the moulding.
The price of tallow-mould-caudles is 5 d. per lb.; thosewith waxed wicks, 5 ^d .; and the composite candles,formed of tallow and cocoa-nut-stearin, 8 d. per lb.
(6.) Stearic Candles.
With this term we designate the candles made fromthe isolated solid fatty acids in contradistinction to thoseconsisting of pressed tallow or lard (stearin), although incommerce both are called “ steariue caudles.” Themanufacture of stearin-candles is on the decrease, andtallow is now very rarely pressed. The stearin fromcocoa-nut-oil (cocin) is, however, still prepared in con-siderable quantities, and mixed with stearic acid, andmanufactured into the numerous kinds of compositecandles which are so generally used in England. Com-pared with other fats, the importation of cocoa-nut-oil isnot large; the following is the detailed account for 1850,from which it will be seen that by far the largest quan-tity comes from India :—
The foundation upon which the manufacture of stearicacid candles is based is the saponification of fats, and theseparation of the fatty acids from the soaps, which the
■ beautiful researches of Chevreul have made known to us.
. It would, however, be an error to suppose that these' investigations alone solved the difficulty. Seven years,
in fact, elapsed after the publication of Chevreul ’s dis-' coveries, before they were successfully applied; but this
■ can be a matter of no surprise to those familiar with theestablishment of a new industry, and who are aware of the
1 immense chasm which separates the laboratory of thechemist from the workshop of the manufacturer; they onlycan comprehend fully the obstacles of all kinds that mustbe vanquished, in order to fructify a purely scientific germ,
' and render it a healthy and vigorous branch of art.
The first steps in the manufacture of stearic candleswere surrounded by difficulties of all kinds which fre-quently clouded the prospects of the enterprising inven-1 tors. 'Chevreul ’s experiments were published as early asi 1S23, but the idea of making caudles from the isolatedfatty acids does not appear to have been matured until; two years later. At this period Chevreul allied himself: with his celebrated colleague Gay-Lussac , with the inten-tion of applying his discoveries to the practical purposesof life. In the year 1825 these two chemists took out apatent in France’for the manufacture of fatty acids, andtheir application to the making of candles. Gay-Lussac took out, moreover, a patent in England in the name of: his agent Moses Poole, on the 9th of June of the samei year. The specification of these patents is highly inter-! esting, as evincing a remarkable sagacity on the part of! the patentees in anticipating the progress of this branch: of industry; they call in aid all the agents which have' been adopted up to the present day, even including thedistillation of fatty acids with the aid of steam, which: has onlv been brought into practical operation within thelast ten'years. Nevertheless the proprietors of the patents| derived no benefit from them. The processes which they: employed resembled too closely the proceedings of the, chemist in his laboratory, rendering their industrial exe-' cution too costly. Although lime was specified by Gay-; Lussac for the saponification of the fat, the ordinaryi alkalies continued to be employed; and for decomposing; the soap, hydrochloric acid was used, the alkaline stilts ofj which were never completely separable from the fattyI acids. In their French patent Chevreul and Gay-Lussac : even spoke of the necessity of cold and hot alcohol for