The Opelousas courier., 1886-05-08
HUMBLE BUT USEFUL
a Short Sketch of the Evolu-
ton Of the Match.
how Matches Stand in TIE World as q
Factor of Economy

In his address at the opening session of
he British association, Prof. Lyon Play
ar, NJ. F., the president, said: "Lct
ne take a single example of how even a
BETTY manufacture, improved by the
~eachings of science, affects the comforts
md enlarges the of mankind.
When | was a boy the only way of OBJ
aiming a light was by the Undertook.
With its quadruple materials, flint and
steel, burnt rags or finder, and a sulphur
match. If everything went well, if the
box could be found, and the air was dry,
flight could be obtained in two minutes;
out very often the time occupied was
much longer, and the process became a
great trial to the serenity of the temper.
The consequence of this was that a fire or
burning lamp was kept alight through
he day. Old Gerard, in his herbal,
ellis us how certain fungi were used to
larry fire from one part of the country to
he other. The finder box long held its
position as a great discovery in the arts.
The pyridicuM ]igniaria of the Romans
appears to have been much the same
Implement, though a little ruder than the
lint and steel which Philip the Good put
INTO the collar of the Golden Fleece, in
1923, as the representative of high knowl-
edge in the progress of the arts. 1t ON
inued to prevail till 1888. when phos-
1horus matches were introduced, though
have been amused to find that there are
/ few venerable ancients in London who
will stick to the ffnder-box, and for
whom a few shops keep a small supply.
Phosphorus was no new discovery, for it
| lad been obtained by an Arabian called
3echtel in the eighth century. Howev-
IT, it was forgotten, and it was rediscov-
red by Brandt, who made it out of very
sinking materials, in 1869. Other dis
,overies had, however, to be made before
t could be used for lucifer matches.
The science of combustion was only de-
7eloped on the discovery of oxygen a
century later. Time had to elapse be-.
ore chemical analysis showed the kind
If bodies which could be added to
phosphorus to make it ignite readily. So
t was not till 1888 that matches became
, partial success. Intolerable they then
were, dangerously infammable, horribly
poisonous to the makers, and in INJURIOUS
% the lungs of 1t required
mother, discoveryby Schrotter in 1845rto
.hange poisonous wax into innocuous red
prick phosphorus in order that these de-
iects might be rcmedied and to give us
Inc safety match of the present day.
| Now, what have these successive discoy-
,ries in SCIENCE done for the nation in
ibis single manufacture by an economy
| If time2 If, before 1888, we had made
he same demand for light that we now.
10 when we daily consume eight match
per head of the population, the tinder-
oox could have supplied the demand
lnder the most favorable conditions by
In expenditure OF one quarter of an hour.
The lucifer match supplies a light in fif-
zen seconds on each occasion, or in two
minutes for the whole day. Putting
;hese differences into a year, the venera-
Die ancient who still sticks to his finder
oox would require to spend ninety hours
yearly in the production Of light, while
he user of lucifer matches spends twelve
hours; SO that the latter hasa economy
Of se~venty-eight hours yearly, or about
zen working days. Measured by cost of
production at I shilling 6 pence daily,
5he economy of time represented in mon
" to orr population is e26, 600, 900 annu-
ally. This is a curious instance of the
manner in which science leads to econo
my OF time aud wealth, we in a small
manufacture.