The Romance of Modern Chemistry

HOW FIRE IS MADE colouring matters, such as ultramarine or vermilion, and gritty material, such as powdered glass or fine sand, the object of which is to increase the susceptibility of the mixture to friction. In order that the splint might be sure to catch when the match was struck, it was at one time customary to dip it in sulphur before tipping with the phosphorus mixture. The combustion of the latter lasts only a moment; the sulphur, on the other hand, bums slowly, and allows a little more time and opportunity for the wood to catch. Sulphur-coated splints are out of date now, and are met with only in cheap matches of con- tinental manufacture. Instead of sulphur, paraffin is frequently used; it acts similarly as a go-between for the explosive mixture at the tip and the wooden splint. The use of ordinary phosphorus in matches has many disadvantages. Their dangers have been impressed on many of us by “ The Dreadful Story of Harriet and the Matches,” and their use has most certainly led to numerous fires. In addition to this objection, there is the fact that phosphorus is poisonous. Workers in match factories, who are exposed to the vapour of phosphorus, are liable to a painful and often incurable disease of the jaw-bone. In the earlier periods of the manufacture of phosphorus matches there was considerable mortality from this cause, but it has been found that when close attention is paid to ventilation and cleanliness the danger is exceedingly slight. The objections to the use of ordinary phosphorus can, however, be met in another way. Curiously enough, phosphorus is an element which exists in two forms. Just as an actor may represent two different characters in the same play, so phosphorus is sometimes a pale yellow, 123