Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-06-15
HISTORY OF MATCHES,
From the Ral,Imore Amar,o,,

Professor Mallet lectured yesterday after.
noon at Hopkins Hall on ''Matches"-not love
affairs by any meauS, but the phosphorc Kind
and various span ks in no way related 10 that
process OF sparkling that results in the tender
| lame. The original discovery OF tire itself, he
said was remarkab bic event in the history Of
man, hut the when and where are things that
are lost in the depths of antiquity. III we spec
nlale about how i came 10 pass We may hazard
the gU"SSeS ot lightning or Preventative decay.
Ii is thought 10y some that IL may have come
ABOUT by concentration of the suns rays. but
TINS Is not probable. Savage nations always
tNhlhli great care an the pIe>erNa. / al al hre
when once produced. and when becoming more
clVllized, as. tur Instance, the Chinese. adopt
special methods fur ca. Ty.ug !, aIUGu..
The earliest mode of providing ire artifci-
ally seelnS To have Ueeu the IuubiuL 81 40
pieces OF wood specially prepared. This is i'm
use YET In bon hS0. Java, ana parts OF Soata
America. Piny describes in his time viii n
were the best kinds of wood for the purpose
modification Of The same principle vas the
percussion process Of striking flint against
steel which the Greek writer's tell Of. and ;ha;
Is TO some extent IN practice still. For many
hundred years the iiins on steel continued the
mode of making fires, aided in some in stanceS
by matches dipped in sulphur, which we're not
themselves capable Of fuSing except by the
spark.
Phosphorus was discovered in l669, accord
ing t. our Know dye, but il may have been
in epe ndently discovered long befuIe. At first
was only esteemed chemical curiosity on
acc uni OF IT. lumlno ,ity in he da X, and il
was OF until iGSo that il was first offered for
safe In any large quantity. It's manufacture
wa, secret, and It's price was $40 times what il
Is at p: eseni, Even through the eighteenth aud
to the beei1n;nE of The present cen ury una
Valllng az empiS were made To produce a sue
cess1ul portable match. In 1895 French chem
IS made match tipped with chloride of DO
tasSlum, sulphur and gum, which had 10 be
plunged into bottle Of SuphuIic acid before
IL would lgnlt. After some other develop
meEtS III lSl6 ph0i'ho OuS WIS used in place uf
the sulphur. In lS-S came the fr, Iu.. lean
matches III Ell land, which were fused Iy
biting of he eI d of small roll of paper con
a. aipI TIa1 T,Il
the first friction match, which had TO be drawn
through two pieces OF sand paper ami fused
with light eXplo>i IN The head OF this match
on ned entirely OF and did not set fire To the
wood
In ls;3 was Invented the match that has
sine, With some slight changes he d its own,
but, strange To say it came into use >imultane-
ou>ly III Austria. Germany and England al d
al l. asst dozen persons have laid claim 10 lis
discovery The nrSt objection to it was the
violence with which 1t burned. In ISIS this
violent combustion was leSSened by the Juice
OF metallic oxide as an add i0nal coating
and his again was replaced in 1916 by a coat
lngo common Sal peire below the head of the
match. SO put on as 10 make the burning
S.GWrr. Then came the little wax matches
now almost out of use, that We're so long pop,
ul;tr Tor use III sea Jag letters. About this time
2 eat lmpi oV"mcnt in preparing the SpIintS
Of woo! wSS Introduced, consisting of solid
blocks OF St"ei, with perforated holes close to-
gelher and >haipenad at the edges, BY which a
olock OF w0ou Wa turned on! in a minute in
shower of Sp!imtS If the required length and
thickness. IL 1870 the second dipping Of sui
phur extending below the heal, WAS SubSti
iEted by Stearine and parafine. Those aichPS
Lat seem to have nothing below the head are
III reality, dipped in Stearine. which SarurateS
ne wood and causes il 10 be more iniamma-
bic.
In 1913 the discovery was made that phos-
ph0rOuS, when heated to a certain pitch
tn ned dark and crimson and lost some OF its
lniiammability, as well as its poisonous prop-
critics. The matches made of this substance
although doing away with the destruction of
the health OF the employees, did not prove as
good as others, and have almost entirely gone
out of use. In lSl7 a Swedish manufact lrpr
introduced the safety match, with the head
made OF chloride of potassium and sui hide of
al tmOny, and the surface to strike il upon
made OF red phoSphOrouS The latest change is
the match of American invention, which will
only light when struck on piece of rubber
Specially prepared.