There exists a large mining and manufacturing industry in Austria, that of ozokerite, or earth-wax, which has nothing like it in any other part of the known world, an industry that supplies Europe with a part of its beeswax, without the aid of the bees. It may not be generally known that the mining of petroleum was a profitable industry in Austria long before it was in this country. In 1852, a druggist near Tarnow distilled the oil and had an exhibit of it in the first World's Fair in London. In America, the first borings were made in 1859. Indeed, the use of petroleum as an illuminator was common at a very early age in the world's history. In Persia at Baku, in India on the Irawada, also in the Crimea, and on the river Kuban in Russia, petroleum has been used in lamps for thousands of years. At Baku the fire worshipers have a never-ceasing flame, which has burned from time immemorial. The mines of ozokerite are located in Austrian Poland, now known as Galicia.

License information: nan
MPAA: G
Go to source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8742/8742-h/8742-h.htm