THE CHEMICAL MATCH.

61

which led immediately to the Lucifer, and we commence with what was called

The Chemical Match.-The old sulphur match was covered with chlorate of potash, and the paste used for these matches is said to have been composed of

The chlorate of potash (K, Cl2 О5), when brought in contact with strong sulphuric acid in the cold, is decomposed with an explosion and the production of fire. The products of this decomposition, in the first instance, are bisulphate of potash, perchlorate of potash and chlorous acid; but these two latter substances undergo a further change, the former becoming chloride of potassium and oxygen, while the latter is resolved into chlorine and oxygen. products of the secondary decomposition ignite inflammable matters of all kinds, such as sulphur, resin, gum, sugar, &c., when within immediate reach of their action.

The

The chemical match dipped in sulphuric acid at once took fire. The acid was usually kept in a bottle filled with asbestus, and fitted with a glass stopper or a plug of indiarubber, which were used for touching the match.

Camphor and frankincense were sometimes mixed with the paste, and the wood used was cedar, so that a pleasant odour was diffused in obtaining a light.

These matches were probably invented in France, and thence introduced into this country; but previous to this date, Captain Manby had been accustomed to use a similar mixture for firing a small piece of ordnance for conveying a rope to a stranded vessel. Parke also described a similar

compound in his "Chemical Catechism," as early as 1808. Mr. Jones employed the same principles in the preparation of his

Prometheans. He took equal quantities of sugar and chlorate of potash, which he made up into a thick paste with a solution of gum, and coloured the whole with vermilion. The sulphuric acid was contained in thin glass beads. A bead surrounded with a little of the paste was rolled up in gummed paper and then dried. The glass bead was crushed between a pair of pliers, sold with the matches, when the acid, coming in contact with the dry paste, caused the whole to ignite.

The writer may be allowed to mention that he lately had an opportunity to examine one of the Russian explosive machines, fished up in the Baltic during the summer of 1855, and found it to depend for its action upon the above ingredients. A moderate-sized tube, partially filled with cotton wool, dusted with sulphur and chlorate of potash, contained a glass bulb full of sulphuric acid. The slightest shock sufficed to break this bulb, and the fire which followed would ignite the gunpowder in the larger vessel.

A somewhat similar invention called the Empyrion, was superseded by the

Friction Match,-Which appeared in 1832. They were coated with a mixture of 2 parts sulphuret of antimony and 1 part chlorate of potash, made into a paste with gumwater, which was applied to the end of an ordinary sulphur splint or match. They were ignited by drawing them rapidly between the surfaces of a piece of folded sandpaper, which was compressed at the same moment by the finger and thumb. This match was the precursor of the Lucifer, which, like its friend, was the old sulphur match more neatly fashioned, and coated with an inflammable paste containing phosphorus.

THE PHOSPHORUS MATCH.

63

It is not known who first suggested the substitution of phosphorus for sulphuret of antimony, but it proved a most important step, as the friction necessary to produce ignition was so great that the inflammable composition was often torn off by the sand paper.

Boyle and Hook are the first who allude to the use of phosphorus for producing light soon after its discovery in the seventeenth century; and it is known that Godfrey Hauckwitz, at his laboratory in Southampton Street, Strand, manufactured and sold large quantities of phosphorus for this purpose.

The Phosphorus Match, or Phosphoric Paper, as it was first called, underwent various modifications,-mixtures of phosphorus, with magnesia, lime, sulphur, white wax, corkpowder, &c., being all in turn recommended and employed. Chlorate of potash was added, which caused a noise when the match was used, but this detonating action was overcome by a mixture producing a slower combustion, and these matches were called Congreves or Noiseless Lucifers. The public have, however, adopted the latter designation, and thus we arrive at

The Lucifer Match,-The manufacture of which now embraces two branches,-the production of the match itself, and that of the boxes which contain them; the latter are often not united in the same works, but made "out of the house," and at the houses of those employed. The same division of labour also prevails more and more in the making of the match, the cutting of the wood into the splint having become a distinct business. T. R.

(To be continued.)

OURSELVES.

NUTRITION (continued).

AFTER the busy Tongue has jostled a portion of food from one side of the mouth to the other, subjected it to the action of the teeth, to a due admixture of saliva, and to the scrutiny of the sense of taste, it collects the fragments into a little heap on its upper surface; then, applying its apex to the roof of the mouth, it tilts, or rather perhaps squeezes, it into the Pharynx. If fluid is taken in a continuous draught, the sides of the Tongue are inclined slightly upwards, and form a channel for it.

Immediately, on receiving the morsel, the muscles of the pharynx close upon it and force it down into the œsophagus. During this act, the other openings which lead into and out of the pharynx become simultaneously shut up, and so, except on special occasions, the food seldom goes the wrong

way.

The esophagus, which extends from the bottom of the pharynx to the stomach, is a strong, membranous and muscular tube, dilatable and very sensitive. Its muscular coat is composed of fibres, arranged longitudinally and transversely. Their action is so nicely adjusted, and they fulfil the law of their action so obediently, that during the act of swallowing, each portion of the canal becomes first enlarged to receive the morsel, and then contracted above and upon it; by which alternate and successive movements, it is urged continuously downwards and propelled into the stomach. The inner lining of the tube lies in plaits, which allow of its easy distension.

That much-abused but very important organ, the stomach, is the principal functionary in the business of diges

tion. In some form or other this viscus exists in almost every animal; and, hence, it may be properly considered as characteristic of the class. Its appearance, even in the human person, is not prepossessing. It has been likened to a leathern bottle, and to the air-receptacle of a bagpipe: it is not unlike, nor much like either. In an adult it will

hold from two to four pints.

Its general form when moderately distended, is shown in the annexed figure; and the letters indicate the parts specially named by anatomists. A is the Cardiac portion and orifice; so called, and for no other reason, because they lie under and near the Heart: E at this opening the sophagus terminates. B, the greater Curvature; from D it depends a large duplicature of the Peritoneum -the lining membrane of the Abdomen-called the Omentum, which monly contains a good

com

Ideal of fat, and is some

times overloaded with it. C, the lesser Curvature. D, the pyloric portion, and E, the Pylorus, or watchman; so named from the almost instinctive vigilance with which it notices the exit of the food from the stomach. A part of the space between the Cardiac portion and the lesser Curvature, extending a little farther than C, is occupied by the Little Omentum, not shown in the sketch. It is another fold of the peritoneum, and extends to the Liver.

A very little care in the dissection shows that the stomach is formed of three principal coats or tunics; a serous, a muscular, and a mucous or villous coat. The