684 TRE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Another property of chlorate of potash was discovered shortly 

 afterward. Mixed with various substances sulphuret of anti- 

 mony, for example a combination was produced which exploded, 

 with issue of flame, on being rubbed. This mixture was first 

 applied to matches by Johann Friedrich Kammerer in 1832. 

 Having sulphured the end of the stick, he prepared an adhesive 

 mixture of gum arabic, chlorate of potash, and sulphuret of anti- 

 mony, dipped the stick in it, and let the whole dry. This new 

 match was lighted by rubbing it, under pressure of the fingers, in 

 a folded piece of sandpaper. 



The use of phosphorus was the next improvement. That sub- 

 stance inflames readily when warmed to 50 C, or 122 F. a tem- 

 perature easily obtained by lightly scratching the match on a 

 rough surface. Experiments had been made with this substance 

 at the beginning of the century ; but the first phosphorus matches 

 were crude and unsafe. Pure phosphorus was kept under water 

 in bottles, whence small bits of it were taken out and lighted by 

 rubbing on leather. Kammerer, not being fully satisfied with his 

 first composition, tried a new one containing phosphorus as well 

 as chlorate of potash. After this there were no more failures of 

 the matches to light, for the phosphorus took fire under the 

 slightest friction and decomposed the chlorate of potash, which 

 gave out the oxygen required to inflame the sulphur, and made a 

 lively combustion possible. The idea found favor, and the first 

 large factory of phosphorus matches was erected in Vienna by 

 Stephan Romer and J. Preschel. This match, too, had its defects. 

 The mixture of phosphorus and chlorate of potash exploded with 

 such force as to be available for filling bombs. Some serious acci- 

 dents occurred in the shops, and the transportation of the mate- 

 rial was forbidden in several countries. The new matches were 

 wild comrades that needed taming. At last the Vienna makers 

 succeeded in replacing the chlorate of potash by other substances 

 such as minium, peroxide of lead, and manganese oxide which 

 gave out oxygen more slowly. 



Objections were still brought against these matches. The 

 burning sulphur emitted an offensive odor : to obviate this, paraf- 

 fin was introduced in the place of sulphur as the substance in 

 which the sticks should be dipped before finishing their heads. 

 A more serious objection was founded on the poisonous nature of 

 the vapor of phosphorus, by reason of which the use of even 

 only a few matches at a time was attended with peril, and the 

 workmen in the factories became subject to dangerous diseases. 

 Yet the manufacturers would not give up phosphorus, and the 

 public, having become accustomed to the new matches, demanded 

 them, so that it was not feasible to prohibit the making of them, 

 and the attention of the Government was rather directed to 



