PHOSPHORUS. 
sometimes inflame, if tiiere be any air in the 
apparatus. If tlie experiment be made in 
an open vessel, each bubble of air, when it 
comes to the surface, produces a vivid de- 
flagration, and ditfuses the odour of phospho- 
rated hydrogen gas. This acid is composed 
of the same constituent parts as the jdios- 
phoric, and is considered by some as the 
phosphoric acid holding in solution a small 
quantity of phosphorus. Phosphorous acid 
forms compounds with alkalies, earths, and 
metallic oxides, which are known under the 
name of phosphites. 
PHOSPHORUS. This singularsnbstance 
was accidentally discovered in 1677 by an al- 
chymist of Hamburgh, named*Brandt, when 
he was engaged in scarclfing for the philoso- 
pher’s stone. Kunkel, another chemist, 
who had seen the new product, associated 
himself with one of his friends, named Krafft, 
to purchase the secret of its preparation ; 
but the latter deceiving his friend, made the 
purchase for himself, and refused to com- 
municate it. Kunkel, who at this time 
knew nothing further of its preparation than 
that it was obtained by certain processes 
from urine, undertook the task, and suc- 
ceeded. It is on this account that the sub- 
stance long went under the name of Kun- 
kel’s phosphorus. Mr. Boyle is also consi- 
dered as one of the discoverers of phospho- 
rus. He communicated the secret of the 
process for preparing it to the Royal Society 
of London in 1680. It is asserted, indeed, 
by Kraft, that he discovered the secret to 
Mr. Boyle, having in the year 1678 carried 
a small piece of it to London to shew it to 
the royal family ; but there is little proba- 
bility that a man of such integrity as Mr. 
Boyle would claim the discovery of the 
process as his own, and communicate it 
to the Royal Society, if this had not been 
the case. Mr. Boyle communicated the 
process to Godfrey Hankwitz, an apothecary 
of London, who for many years supplied 
Europe with phosphorus, and hence it went 
under the name of English phosphorus. In 
the year 1774, the Swedish chemists, Gahn 
and Scheele, made the important discovery, 
that phosphorus is contained in the bones of 
animals, and they improved the processes 
for procuring it. 
The 'most convenient process for obtain- 
ing phosphorus seems to be that recom- 
mended by Fourcroy and Vauquelin, which 
we shall transcrilre. Take a quantity of 
burnt bones, and reduce them to powder. 
Put 100 parts of this powder into a porce- 
lain or stone- ware bason, and dilute it with 
four times its weight of water. Forty parts 
of sulphuric acid are then to be added in 
small portions, taking care to stir the mix- 
ture after the addition of every portion. A 
violent cfiervescence takes place, and a 
great quantity of air is disengaged. Let tlie 
mixture remain for twenty-four hours, stir- 
ring it occasionally, to expose every part of 
the powder to the action of the acid. The 
burnt bones consist of the phosplwric acid 
and lime; but the sulphuric acid has a 
greater affinity for the lime than the phos- 
phoric acid. The action of the sulphuric 
acid uniting with the lime, and the separa- 
tion of the phosphoric, acid, occasion- the 
effervescence. The sulphuric acid and the 
lime combine together, being insoluble, and 
fall to the bottom. Pour the whole mix- 
ture on a cloth filter, so that the liquid part, 
which is to be received in a porcelain ves- 
sel, may pass through. A white powder, 
which is the insoluble sulphate of lime, re- 
mains on the filter. After this has been 
repeatedly washed with water, it may be 
thrown away; but the water is to be added 
to that part of the liquid which passed 
through tlie filter. Take a solution of sugar 
of lead in water, and pour it gradually into 
the liquid in the porcelain bason. A white 
powder falls to the bottom, and the sugar of 
lead must be added so long as any preci- 
pitation takes place. The whole is again to 
be poured upon a filter, and the white pow- 
der whicKremains is to be well washed and 
dried. The dried powder is then to be 
mixed with one-sixth of its weight of char- 
coal powder. Put this mixture into an 
earthen-ware retort, and place it in a sand 
bath, with the beak plunged into a vessel of 
water. Apply heat, and let it be gradually 
increased, till the retort becomes red hot. 
As the heat increases, air-hubbies rush in 
abundance through the beak of the retort 
some of which are inflamed when they come 
in contact with the air at the surface of the 
water. A substance at last drops out simi- 
lar to melted wax, which congeals under 
the water. This is phosphorus. To have it 
quite pure, melt it in warm water, and 
strain it several times through a piece of 
sbamoy leather under the surface of the 
water. To mould it into sticks, take a glass 
funnel with a long tube, which must be 
stopped with a cork. Fill it with water, and 
put the phosphorus into it. Immerse the 
funnel in boiling water, and when the phos- 
phorus is melted, and flows into the tube of 
the funnel, then plunge it into cold water, 
and when the phosphorus has become solid. 
