The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1891-12-11
HISYoRY THE MATCH
THE FIRa1E 6CEFER WAS MADE IN
A o8& IN DUNGEON.

tH@<| l1<<<--<-------
THE FIRs1 6CxPER WAS MADE IN
A oB N DUNGEON.
After Th1Ir. ention the Manufac-
ture dft&tches Was Forbidden
tor a Whiie-A Great Industry.
81 wonder does any one know the his
tory of the lucifer," said Mr.. II. G. Zap
part the other day at the Southern. "I
tell you why ask. i was once standing
here just whereI am now auG 1 met an
Euglishmsn. The Englishman had
whoie.heArt xwesr at things in gem
eraI. IS Aazen in the summer
he said and pu are heatedir, the win
ter till Que mig believe you were be-
ing toasted brSwn IN mistake for a
muffin for breakfast, aud you cannot buy
wax vcsta.' h occurred to me that
there was not 50 much cause for COM
plant in respectto this last item at least,
for you know msu has gone on for prob
ably couple of Thousand years without
a match at all, ouch less the wax vesta.
"For the comfort of such gentlemen
as have Just mentioned 1 will give you
the history Of ths match. First of all,
what do you think is its value2 In the
United States the value of single match
would be the 3tOth part of cent,
and in Europe about half the price.
Think of it, 36Q matches. the wood
chopped and all other things done, and
the lot neatly packed into little box for
1c., and yet there are large fortunes
made out of matches. France has been
enabled to meet the terrible heavy liza
bility involved in the war with Germany
through making the match industry
monopolEs..Ae I have said, the world
had to DO Nfthodt the matoh for thou
sands Of yearsk You would find it diff
cult to find monument to the genius of
the inventor, and probably the majority
of men do not even know his name.
cit is the old, old story. The man who
introduced an article by which millions
of dollars have been made, and are still
made, an article which is considered IN.
dispensable to society, died poor, broken
hearted and forgotten in a lunatic
asylum. The first phosphorus match
was inade<;by one John Frederic
Komerer, In Ludwigsburg, Germany.
He had been Imprisoned for some poll
tical offense in the penitentiary at
Hohenasperg. The Governor of the
prison treated the convicts with humanity
aud allowed Komerer, who was a
chemist by profession, to make scientific
experiments. In the cell of gloomy
dungeon the first lucifer was struck to
the great delight of the unhappy
prisoner. 1t came as ray Of hope to
the man shut out from the rest Of the
world and from all that made life dear.
ga year later Komerer was released.
At that time no patent law existed, and
the ex-prisoner being man with
out capital had to fight three companies
in Vienna. His opponents had means,
while he had none. But a still harder
blow was in store for him. The Ger
man Government had notion that mat
ches were dqieerous because some chill
drcn playing With them caused contia-
grafton, aud in q fit of incomprehensible
stupidity passed law forbidding the
manufacture Of all kinds of matches.
Thus was Komerer ruined. Other couu-
tries took the matter up, and in 1S42
the law of Germany was repealed. In
1858 millionaire match maker existed
in Vienna. His millions increased as
the years went by, and he retired after
twenty years work with a fortune of
$40, ,O00, 900, ,
match saSeGa Sasiness aas'aeSaTiSs 81 shs
whole globe. They worked in the MOI.
impracticablej way, without machinery.
There was a fixed idea that machinery
was useless, and that the work should be
done by hand. One particular event
caused the downfall of the Vienna mo.
nopoly. This was the invention of the
safety match. The principal material
in which the igniting composition is
dipped is phosphorus. One hundred
years ago 1t was nothing more than
chemical surjpsity, produced in very
small quaftit4s and an ounce of it was
sold for an ounce of gold. Now
pound can be bought for sixty cents.
"Thc extraordinary Igniting powers of
phosphorus cannot be equaled by any of
the chemical substances now in use, but
it is most poisonous article, and many
suicides were committed with an emul.
sion of the heads of the matches of which
1T formed part. 1t also caused terri
bly, deadly disease among the poor opera.
tors in the factories. Professor Shratcr
made discovery of something which re-
duced the deadly elements of the phos-
phorus. He offered his discovery to the
leading Vienna manufacturers, but the
offer was rejected, BY some way the dis.
covery found its way to Sweden, aud
there new industry sprung up, which
gave employment to thousands of hands
and realized millions of dollars.
Sweden produces no other but safety
matches, and they are exported to all
parts of the world. In Germany, Austria,
Switzerland aud Holland phosphorus
match factories are under State control,
to prevent as much as possible the spread
Of the disease to which have referred.
The girls must wear special dresses; the
factories must possess special lavatcries
and dining.rooms, and medical man
must examine the surroundings and send
in report once week to the factory
inspector The manufacturer must pay
for the medical treatment.
cit is strange that tho safety match
has not found favor in the United States,
tl,.,,, oct, Al