THE METAMORPHOSES OF MATTEB. 103 



In the year 1849, Professor Schrotter of Vienna astonished 

 the chemical section of the British Association, holding its 

 seance at Birmingham, by the substance he called ' amorphous' 

 or ' allotropic' phosphorus : a substance that, though wholly 

 different from common phosphorus in appearance and many 

 qualities, may nevertheless be transformed into ordinary phos- 

 phorus by mere elevation of temperature ; a substance which, 

 torture it, analyse it as you will, reveals the presence of no 

 second element. It is phosphorus under another form, but 

 nevertheless phosphorus. To present some illustrations of the 

 points of distinction between ordinary and allotropic phos- 

 phorus, consider well the following : Ordinary phosphorus is 

 a body so highly inflammable that it must be stored away in 

 water ; allotropic phosphorus is so devoid of inflammability 

 at the temperature of the human body, that the Viennese 

 chemist produced a specimen of it out of his waistcoat-pocket. 

 Ordinary phosphorus is light yellow in colour, and of the con- 

 sistence of bees'-wax; allotropic phosphorus is puce-coloured, 

 and, when not in powder, very hard. Ordinary phosphorus is 

 readily soluble in bisulphide . of carbon, when thus in solution 

 constituting the liquid denominated by Captains Disney and 

 Norton * liquid fire;'* whereas allotropic phosphorus is not 

 soluble in that liquid at all. Finally, whereas ordinary phos- 

 phorus is so dangerously poisonous, that even the fumes of it, 

 as breathed in the operation of manufacturing lucif er-matches, 

 prove rapidly fatal, allotropic phosphorus is wholly devoid of 

 any poisonous quality. 



Whether a material capable of assuming states so diverse 

 is to be regarded as simple or compound, as constituted of one 

 element or more than one, may indeed involve some nice 

 points of metaphysical inquiry, may suggest to philosophers 

 the propriety of looking narrowly at their definitions. For 

 the chemist, it only remains to speak of things as he may find 

 them according to his evidence; and in this case he is im- 

 * More lately Charleston and Fenian fire. 



