024
distillation are both practised; as well as soap-making ona very large scale. The distillation furnishes 3,500 lbs. jof vegetable fatty acids per day. One hundred and fifteen :workpeople are employed in the two establishments; !they are all Spaniards, and were instructed at the works.There are two other manufactories of stearic candles, oneat Barcelona, the other at Ilernani. The wholesaleprices of tallow and palm stearic candles are both Is. 3d.per pound avoirdupois. ;
Some of the finest stearic manufactures in the Exhi- ;bition are sent by J. Johansson, of Stockholm (98,p. 1354). The beauty of these productions arises chiefly ifrom the employment of newly-invented machinery, :which this Exhibitor obtained from J. and C. G. Bolin- ,der, engineers in the same town. Several candle-moulds |are exhibited which are remarkable for their internalpolish. They are made by simply dipping a cold highly-polished steel-rod into a melted alloy, chiefly composed oftin. In this way two workmen can produce from 100 to j110 moulds per hour. M. Johansson employs a steam- !engine of twelve-horse power to work the hydraulic :presses, slicing and mixing machines, and also a polishingmachine, to which the great lustre of his candles is partlydue.
Turkey.
Moldavia contributed some very good specimens ofstearic candles from its only manufactory, which pos-sesses a steam-boiler and two hydraulic presses ; and pro-duces about twenty tons of candles per annum.
In 1832 a manufactory of stearic candles was esta-blished in London , with the co-operation of M. de MilJy;and in 1833, M. Burjot introduced them into the marketunder the name of moulded wax.
In 1834, \V. S. Hale (p. 796) commenced working,and has from this period gradually extended his works,until he has become one of the largest makers of stearicacid and candles in England by the lime process. His aimbeing the manufacture of a commercial article in largequantities, the productions which he contributes have notthe whiteness and high degree of finish of those of someother Exhibitors.
It was likewise in 1834 thatC. Ocleby and Co. (p. 797)commenced working. They have since devoted them-selves almost exclusively to the highest articles, and theirstearic acid and candles are the whitest in the World’sShow.
Soon afterwards J. C. and J. Field (p. 205*) com-menced the manufacture, and have likewise directedtheir attention successfully to the best class productions.
The manufactory of M. Burjot is no longer in exist-ence, but has supplied the foremen employed in the firstinstance in the works of the three English exhibitors.
The wholesale price of’stearic candles in England is10 d. per lb., and that of stearic acid 9 d. per lb.
Besides those just named, Price’s Candle Company(p. 201*) exhibit interesting products obtained from thedistillation of fats: and Mr. Bauwens, the fat acids reco-vered from waste lyes.
The wholesale price of palm stearic candles is 9f d. perlb., and that of composite candles 5}J. per lb.
Imports of palm oil into the United Kingdom in 1850:—
Cuts.
West Coast of Africa - - - 434,179
Other Parts ----- 13,617
Total - - 447,796
In 1850, 4,672 lbs. of stearic candles were importedinto the United Kingdom , and paid 24/. duty. Thisquantity is very insignificant compared with the annualconsumption, and arises in a great measure from thecheapness of production in England: another cause, how-ever, is the preference shown by the British public forcaudles coloured yellow to resemble wax, which descrip-
tion is not manufactured in other countries. It is muchto be regretted that this tendency to imitate one materialby another should prevail to the extent it does, as it un-doubtedly frequently retards the development of each inits own particular sphere. Many instances might be citedin illustration : the imitation of a carpet or marble pave-ment by oil-cloth, and chintz and silk by paper-hangings,immediately occur; to which we may add, as more im-mediately connected with the subject under discussion,gas burners made to imitate oil lamps and candles, as if atube conveying gas could not be arranged in an orna-mental form. But to lower the beautiful white of thepure stearic candle by any contamination appears absurd,after bestowing so much skill in obtaining it free fromcolour. Our French neighbours, who, in matters oftaste, are at least our equals, have long since discardedthe less luminous wax candle, and invariably use thoseof pure white stearic acid for their grand fetes. TheJurors lately witnessed a brilliant illustration of this factin the gorgeous illumination of the Hotel de Yille atParis.
Wcrtemburg.
Although the name of one manufacturer is given in theIllustrated Catalogue, no stearic candles are exhibited inthe Wurtemburg department.
We now come to the consideration of candles madefrom wax and spermaceti. These substances, thoughdiffering from fats properly so called, present someanalogy; they are even more closely allied than the fatsthemselves to the class of bodies called compound-ethers,inasmuch as they are actually combinations of certainfatty acids with the oxides of various alcohol-radicals;for, whilst oxide of glyceryl is common to all the fatsand oils before spoken of, the waxes and spermacetihave their own peculiar bases, which, when liberated,are (unlike glycerin) insoluble in water ; moreover, wu,xesare only partially acted upon by weak solutions of alka-lies, and spermaceti not at all under ordinary circum-stances; and although they may be split up into theirproximate components by fusion with the solid hydratedalkalies, or ebullition with their very concentrated solu-tions, they must be considered as non-saponifiable in theordinary acceptation of the term. The individual differ-ences of wax and spermaceti will be farther elucidated aswe proceed.
(e.) Wax-Candles*
Under the name of wax are included substances ofvarious origin and of very different composition.* Thewax employed in the manufacture of candles is secretedby the honey bee, which has the power of producing thissubstance from its food (sugar). At one time it wasthought that the bee collected the wax ready formedfrom plants, until Liebig advanced the contrary opinion,which was subsequently corroborated by the experimentsof MM. Dumas and Milne Edwards .
A wax known as Chinese wax, and resembling sper-maceti in appearance, was formerly supposed to be avegetable wax ; but the researches of Sir George Staunton and M. Stanislaus Julien, have demonstrated that it isthe secretion of a male insect, the Coccus ceriferus ,which deposits it on the trees on which it feeds, particu-larly the Rhus sncccdaneum.f We owe to Mr. Brodie, aknowledge of the true chemical composition of wax.
* The attention of the reader is directed to the followingspecimens of wax obtained from different sources, andwhich are but little known. Two examples (273 and 293)of bees’-wax from Tasmania , in the section of l 'an Diemen'sLand; berry-wax and bees’-wax from South Africa ; vege-table wax from St. Domingo; and in the Chinese section aso-called vegetable wax produced in Szeclmen, and alsowhite and yellow bees’-wax.
f For much valuable information respecting the so-calledvegetable waxes of China , as well as the other products ofthat vast empire, the reader is referred to the Etude Pra-tique du Commerce d*Exportation de la Chine , by our col-league, M. Natalis Rondot. Paris, 1849. Guillaumin .