VARIETIES. 
183 
Scientific  Merit. — The  Copley  Medal,  of  the  past  year,  has  been  awarded 
to  Prof.  Milne  Edwards,  of  Paris,  for  his  brilliant  researches  in  comparative 
anatomy  and  zoology.  Another  to  Prof.  W.  Thomson,  of  Glasgow,  Scotland, 
for  his  various  physical  researches  relating  to  electricity,  in  reference  to 
the  motive  power  of  heat.  Prof.  Louis  Pasteur,  of  Lille,  had  the  Rumford 
medal  for  his  discovery  of  the  nature  of  racemic  acid  and  its  relation  to 
polarized  light. — Ibid.,  Jan.,  1857. 
Safety  Lucifer  Matches. — The  safety  lucifer  match  is  the  invention  of 
Lundstrom,  a  Swede,  who  has  a  large  match  manufactory  at  Jonkoping,  in 
Sweden,  where  some  hundred  workmen  are  employed,  and  eight  or  more 
millions  of  matches  are  produced  daily.  They  are  about  to  be  introduced 
into  this  country  by  the  firm  of  Bryant  &  May,  London,  who  are  the  largest 
importers  of  German  and  Swedish  lucifers  in  the  kingdom.  A  patent  hag 
been  taken  out  in  their  name  for  the  sale  in  England  of  the  Swedishmatch. 
Its  peculiarity  consists  in  the  division  of  the  combustible  ingredients  of  the 
lucifer  between  the  match  and  the  friction  paper.  In  the  ordinary  lucifer, 
the  phosphorus,  the  sulphur,  and  chlorate  of  potash  or  nitre,  are  all  together 
on  the  match,  which  ignites  when  rubbed  against  any  rough  surface.  In 
the  Swedish  matches  these  materials  are  so  divided  that  the  phosphorus 
(which  is  employed  solely  in  the  amorphous  state,)  is  placed  on  the  sand- 
paper, whilst  the  sulphur,  and  a  minimum  amount  of  chlorate  or  nitrate  of 
potash,  is  placed  on  the  match.  In  virtue  of  this  arrangement,  it  is  only 
when  the  phosphorized  sand-paper  and  the  sulphurized  match  come  in  con- 
tact with  each  other  that  the  ignition  occurs.  Neither  match  nor  sand-paper, 
singly,  takes  fire  by  moderate  friction  against  a  rough  surface.  The  matches 
are  thus  much  less  liable  to  cause  accident  by  casual  ignition  than  the 
ordinary  ones ;  and  the  recent  edict  by  the  Spanish  Government  against 
the  employment  of  lucifers  by  the  peasantry  of  the  forest  districts  in  dry 
weather  (which  will  certainly  be  evaded)  would  be  needless,  if  the  Swedish 
matches  were  in  general  use.  If  they  fully  answer  the  announcements  of 
the  inventor,  and  it  is  due  to  him  to  acknowledge  that  they  excited  great 
interest  at  the  exibition  in  Paris  last  Bummer,  they  will  soon  displace  the 
common  lucifer,  in  virtue  alike  of  their  manufacture  being  much  less  in- 
jurious to  the  health  of  the  workmen  who  make  them,  and  to  the  property 
of  those  who  use  them.—  Journ.  Franklin  Institute,  J an.,  1857,  from  The 
Lond.  Journ.  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  No.  194. 
An  Ice  Machine  has  been  completed  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  which  is  capable 
of  producing  one  ton  of  solid  crystal  ice  in  twenty  hours.  A  trial  has  re- 
cently been  made  with  the  above  result,  while  the  mercury  stood  at  8(P  in 
the  appartment.  The  estimated  expense  of  manufacturing  ice  by  such  a 
machine  is  $5  per  ton,  or  one-fourth  of  a  cent  per  pound. — The  Medical 
World. 
