•JAO MANUFACTURES OF RUSSIA. 



The above data show the great increase in the output of the Russian match 

 lactories. If the total product be compared with the number of factories, it will be 

 seen that each Victory had an average yearly output of 5,000 roubles, in the period 

 1865 to 1872; 6,000 roubles, in 1873 to 1877; 7,760 roubles, in 1878 to 1882; and 

 10,800 roubles, in 1883 to 1887. It should be mentioned, however, that only fact- 

 ories having a yearly output not under 1,000 roubles are included in these figures, 

 while in addition to such establishments there was a great number of small works 

 bearing the character of the Russian household industry, with a varying output of 

 a few hundred roubles. According to the data collected in 1887 by the Ministry of 

 Finance the number of establishments manufacturing matches amounted, for European 

 Russia alone, to 337, while the data referring to the factories with a yearly output 

 of not less than 1.000 roubles give their number fis only 197. At first the manu- 

 facture of matches at the works and small household factories was of a primitive 

 character. The greater part of such works exclusively used ordinary yellow or white 

 phosphorus, and the production was under very poor sanitary conditions, in as much 

 as the workmen were in no way protected from the phosphorous fumes. 



With regard to technic the greatest improvement, made at the first stage of 

 growth, namely, in the sixties, was the diminution in the percentage of phosphorus 

 as a component part of the mass, called forth both by the expense and by the pois- 

 onous nature of the material. At first, 7 pounds of white phosphorous were used per 

 1,000 matches, and in the beginning of the sixties, at the best works, only 3 to 4 

 pounds were used per thousand. Later on, the so-called Swedish, or safety matches, 

 lighted by rubbing against a surface covered with red or amorphous phosphorus, 

 came into use. The first of the works producing such matches was established 

 in Finland on the island Starsand near Bjorneborg, and in 1860 the first supply of 

 such matches was brought from there to St. Petersburg. In the seventies some of 

 the Russian factories began the work, but even in the eighties their number was 

 not large, in fact it was limited to 6 or 7 factories. 



To the improvements made in the production of matches of. white phosphorus 

 must be reckoned the means of protecting their heads from moisture by covering 

 them with varnish and other cheaper compounds, introduced at some works already 

 in the sixties, as well as the setting aside of sulphur, and the impregnation of the 

 wood with stearine, paraffin, and the like, in. order to avoid the development of caustic 

 gases on ignition. For preventing the match fiom smouldering after the flame had 

 been extinguished, the wood was impregnated with such compounds as would not 

 lessen the inflammability, and at the s one time render the match proof against smould- 

 ering, for instance, with borax, phosphureted salts, et cetera. The introduction of ma- 

 chinery for preparing the match sticks must be reckoned also among the technical 

 improvements of the manufacture ; however, many of the factories are still employing 

 hand labour for the purpose, and prepare the sticks at the factories, or give the work 

 out to special workmen. 



As to the organization of the factories with regard to hygienic measures, im- 

 provements were a rare exception until lately, the greater part of the factories estab- 

 lishing only regularly working draft chimneys; therefore the workmen at the match 

 factories using white phosphorus were always subjected to great risks. The disease 

 engendered under such unhealthful conditions is a chronic or slow phosphorus pois- 



