34 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
potassa, sugar, and sulphide of antimony. 
These matches, wlien dipped into sul- 
phuric acid, took fire and gave a light. 
The acid was kept in a bottle filled with 
asbestos, which served the purpose of a 
sponge, and such bottles with one hun- 
dred matches were sold for seven shillings 
and sixpence, or neaiiy $2.00 ! ! Just think 
of paying two dollars for a box of matches ! 
The modern match was invented when 
somebody made an emulsion of phos- 
phorus in glue, adding nitre, red lead, 
antimony, etc., to color and improve it. 
Sulphur had been used long before, both 
on plain matches, used for getting a light 
from flint, steel and tinder, and on the 
old chlorate matches, but this did not 
make them a really serviceable article. 
The use of phosphorus in the way we 
have described at once gave us a useful 
match, easily ignited by gentle friction on 
any rough surface. The old flint and 
steel was by no means a bad implement 
for getting a light. In skilful hands it is 
certain, simple, and always obtainable. 
It would be far better than the matches 
described by Holden. They required great 
effort to ignite them, and very frequently 
failed. We have seen boxes of these old 
matches, and only about one-third of 
them would ignite by the most careful 
handling. And we have made them after 
the best prescriptions of Accum and 
others with like results. The modern 
lucifer match can be used by a child, and 
it is a great pity that the name of the in- 
ventor is unknown. 
Glass Working. 
THE young experimenter will find fre- 
quent difficulties and meet with many 
accidents in working glass, owing to the 
fact that when this substance is not pro- 
perly "annealed" it is very brittle— 
the slightest scratch causing it to fall to 
pieces. Two hollow balls of glass (like 
those used for shooting),* if made of good 
material and well annealed, may be siis- 
pended by strings like two pendulums, as 
*The balls used for shooting are made ex- 
pressly to he troken. Therefore no care is taken 
to anneal them, and they will not answer for this 
experiment. Balls, specially annealed for the 
purpose, are sold by dealers in philosophical ap- 
paratus. 
shown in Figure 1, and then if one be 
drawn aside into the position shown in 
the dotted lines, and allowed to fall, the 
other will rebound as if made of india 
rubber! We have been surprised our- 
selves, and have surprised many an audi- 
dience by the force with which the two 
balls may be allowed to strike together 
without breaking. But if the balls be un- 
annealed, they will not stand this rough 
usage. Glass is annealed by heating it 
Fig. 1. 
very hot— almost to the point of soften- 
ing—and then allowing it to cool slowly 
for several days. To make the cooling 
very gradual, a special oven called a 
"leer" is provided, and all good glass 
ware must be passed through the leer in 
order to make it stand. When the glass 
makers are hurried, they sometimes do 
not give sufficient length of time to the 
process, and the consequence is that the 
glass soon breaks in pieces. Indeed, so 
easily broken are articles in this condi- 
tion that we have frequently had jars and 
other vessels fall to pieces of themselves. 
But even when not so bad as this it will 
often happen that if the article is a tum- 
bier or dish, it breaks when hot water is 
poured into it, and if it is a lamp chimney, 
it cracks on the slightest provocation. A 
