492 On the Modus Operandi of Phosphorus, <§-c. 



the phosphorus, but effectuates no change of property : and oxy- 

 gen, at a temperature less than 50°, scarcely evinces any dispo- 

 sition to combine with it. Thus, phosphorus may be melted under 

 water, at about the 120th degree of Fahrenheit's thermometer, 

 and in that state and situation may be safely handled, because 

 the accession of oxygen is prevented ; but should the hand that 

 held it, be raised above the surface of the vi^ater, at that tem- 

 perature, each one knows what would instantly ensue ; a rapid 

 and vivid combustion, together with the contemporaneous for- 

 mation of phosphoric acid. 



Here, then, we perceive the train of events that gives to phos- 

 phorus, both its remedial, and its noxious character. Chemical 

 in its action altogether, it depends on the accession of com- 

 bustion, to give it activity. This combustion is, however, of a 

 twofold description ; one slow and feeble, wdth but slight disen- 

 gagement of caloric and light, and productive of phospho;-oj<s acid; 

 the other is rapid, as above mentioned, and phosphonc acid is the 

 result therefrom. In the former case, a lambent, phosphorescent 

 flame, may be presumed to stimulate the living fibres, without 

 destroying them. In the latter, whether on the surface of the 

 body, or in the cavity of the stomach, a hum of no trifling cha- 

 racter ensues ; for it is augmented in its violence, by the affu- 

 sion or infiltration of the acid formed. The extent of the lesion 

 will depend, of course, on the amount of the respective agents 

 in their combination ; but it must, whether large or small, be 

 greatly modified from its character of a common burn, by the 

 presence of the powerful acid produced by the combustion; 

 which cannot but give it a different character, from that pro- 

 duced by caloric alone. As the extent of injury will therefore 

 depend greatly on the amount of phosphorus inflamed, and of 

 acid produced thereby, so that amount must also depend on the 

 temperature, and on the quantum of oxygen present. The ani- 

 mal temperature being that of 98°, may be presumed to be 

 partially augmented, by the motion of the stomach ; and if com- 

 bustion once ensues, it must unavoidably continue until the 

 oxygen is fully expended. But, however small the burn, can 

 this exquisitely sensible organ be wounded in the slightest degree, 

 without deeply feeling its influence, and extending that influence 

 to every part, through the agency of its numerous nervous fibril- 

 lae ? And will net that be greatly augmented by the irritation 



