MATCHES. 417 



without application to the jjhosphorns on the box, by drawing them 

 several times with long sweeps over such surfaces as glass, ebony, 

 etc. When they were first introduced into England the use of any 

 other kind in the public buildings was forbidden by a special act of 

 Parliament. Their manufacture has been encouraged in several Euro- 

 pean countries, and in times past their use has by some governments 

 been enjoined by law. These matches are also called " hygienic," be- 

 cause they can be put into the mouth without danger. 



Another kind of safety-match, which has never come into general 

 use, contained the phosphorus at one end and the chlorate of potash 

 at the other. The match is lighted by breaking it in halves and rub- 

 bing the two ends together. 



In Switzerland, safety-matches are almost the only ones in the 

 market, and in Sweden they are largely manufactured for exporta- 

 tion. A firm in New York imported the latter for many years, but 

 the customs-duty was so high, and the demand so slight, that the busi- 

 ness was abandoned. One of the former partners stated that, if the 

 American people would show any desire for the matches, he could 

 furnish them much cheaper than the matches produced in this coun- 

 try, as in Sweden the materials are provided at a very trifling ex- 

 pense. But, as he expressed it, " an American prefers to put his hand 

 into his pocket, take out a match, and strike it on his pantaloons or 

 shoe, to economizing by carrying them around in the box in which he 

 buys them. And you could never get the Irish servants here to use 

 safety-matches unless you had the priest on your side." 



Factories for the production of safety-matches were established in 

 New York, Boston, and other places, but they have all failed with the 

 exception of one in Erie, Pennsylvania, which, with the assistance of 

 some of the wax and parlor manufacturers, easily supplies the demand 

 created in this country. Those made by Bryant & May, in England, 

 are also found in the shops here. The great objection to safety- 

 matches seems to be due to the fact that they are so difiicult to carry 

 about. In France they are regarded with great disfavor by the popu- 

 lation. No one cares to be troubled with an angular box wliich he 

 must hold in his hand till he has lighted his match ; and it is impossi- 

 ble to put the phosphorus compound on a small pocket match-safe, as 

 the surface is not sufticiently great, and the phosphorus soon rubs ofi". 



A gentleman who has been employed in the manufacture of safety- 

 matches expressed it as his opinion that they are the most dangerous 

 matches made. For in the majority of cases, when a match is struck, 

 some of the phosphorus on the box flies ofi", and, being highly inflam- 

 mable, if it meets with any combustible substance, it always gives 

 rise to a danger of fire. If lighted where the phosphorus can fall 

 upon the carpet, the result is the same as though the carpet were ex- 

 posed to the sparks of a fire. There is also a certain degree of temp- 

 tation offered to those who manufacture these matches. This consists 

 VOL. XI. 27 



