The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1877-02-22
About Matches.

In an exhaustive and interesting ar
ticle on the rise and progress of the man.
ufacture of lucifer matches contributed
to Nature by ]. @. Ihomlinson. we find
some things described which are not gen.
orally known. For instance, in relation
to the discovery OF what is called red
phosphorus, he says:
About the year 1850 gentleman en-
tered the laboratory of Kings College,
London, and drew from his waistcoat
a fragment of rough-looking red solid,
and, placing it in the hands of Professor
Miller, asked him if he knew what it
was. 1t was handed round among those
present, but no one had the slightest idea
as to its nature, when, to the astonish-
ment of every one, the gentleman said /:
Z" 1t is phosphorus, amorphous phos-
phorus, discovered by me, Herr SchrOt-
ter, of Vienna"
Up to this time, and indeed for some
years later, persons engaged in the man.
ufacture of lucifers were subject to ter
rible disease, known in the London hos
pitfalls as the jaw disease-necrosis of the
lower jaw, induced by constantly inhal-
ing fumes of phosphoric acid escaping
from the phosphorus of the paste with
which the matches were tipped.
Ordinary matches made with phos-
phorus we're, during many years, danger
Gus cOntrivances. They were luminous
in the dark, liable to ignition on warm
mantle-piece, and poisonous; children
have been killed by using them as play
things; and, moreover they absorb moist.
ure, and become useless by age.
But the chief inducement in getting
rid of ordinary phosphorus and substi-
tuting the new variety was to put an end,
as far as possible, to the jaw disease. The
red, or amorphous, gave off no fumes,
had no smell. was not poisonous, and the
matches made with it were not luminous
in the dark they did not fire on warm
mantle-piece, did not contract damp, and
would keep for any length of time. A
manufacturer, in 1851, sent me several
samples of matches made with red phos-
phOrus. l found some of these matches
the other day, and they were as active,
after twenty-five years, as at first,
But here was difficulty. When the
red phosphorus is brought into contact
with potassic chlorate, a slight touch is
sumClcuI W PIOuuCo Ill explosion, Ill
which the red phosphorus reassumes its
ordinary condition. Many attempts were
made to form paste. and many acct
dents and some deaths occurred in con-
sequence. Prizes and rewards were
offered by manufacturers and others for
a safe paste, or for some means for using
the led instead of the ordinary phos.
phorus; but without success, 30 that the
patent for the manufacture of red phos.
phorus, which was secured by Mr.. AL.
bright, of Birmingham, in 1851, threat.
ened to be of but little value.
At length the happy idea occurred to
Swedish manufacturer not to make q
paste at all with the red phosphorus, but
to make the consumer bring the essen
tial ingredients together in the act of ig
hitting the match.
Mr.. Freezes suggestion, that the igni
ton of the matches is due to electricity
may be dismissed in the face of the fol
lowing experiment: Place few grains
of red phosphorus on hard surface, to
gether with some powder or q crysta
of potassic chlorate, when a gentle tar
will cause them to burst into flame.