50  PHOSPHORUS  AND  MATCH  MANUFACTURES. 
mencenient  of  these  things  with  their  present  developments 
without  being  impressed  with  the  insignificance  of  their  origin 
and  the  magnificence  of  their  practical  results,  nor  without  be- 
ing convinced  of  the  importance  of  abstract  scientific  investiga- 
tion. It  is  not  my  object  on  the  present  occasion  to  dilate  upon 
the  relations  of  abstract  science  to  manufactures  and  practical 
life,  but  to  give  some  account  of  the  origin,  progress,  and 
present  condition  of  the  phosphorus  and  match  manufacture. 
In  the  year  1669  phosphorus  was  accidentally  discovered  in 
human  urine  as  "  a  dark,  unctuous,  daubing  mass,"  by  Brandt, 
a  merchant  and  alchemist,  of  Hamburg,  while  searching  for  a 
liquid  capable  of  transmuting  silver  into  gold.  By  some  means 
it  appears  that  at  the  same  time  Kunckell,  a  (Jerman  chemist, 
gained  some  knowledge  of  the  means  of  obtaining  this  sub- 
stance, and  communicated  it  to  Kraft,  of  Dresden,  who  proceed- 
ed to  Hamburg,  and  paid  200  dollars  for  a  specimen  "for  him 
to  make  demonstrances  to  princes."  Kunckell  prepared  some  of 
i  the  substance  and  exibited  it  to  the  Courts  of  Saxony  and  Bran- 
denburg, although  it  was  not  a  very  delicate  or  agreeable  ex- 
hibition, "because  the  unctuous  and  daubing  oilyness  was  not 
yet  accurately  separated  from  it,  and,  without  doubt,  it  was  very 
stinking,  and  therefore  unpleasant."  He  also  gave  some  to 
his  friends,  Professors  in  Germany,  and  to  Mr.  Link,  of  Leipsic, 
for  sale.  An  account  of  it  was  published  in  his  "  Laborato- 
rium  Chymicum,"  Hamburg  and  Leipsic,  1716,  p  660. 
To  afford  some  idea  of  the  effect  of  Brandt's  discovery  upon 
his  fellow-townsmen  and  upon  alchemists  generally,  I  quote  the 
following: — "  When,  now,  such  like  noble  motives  made  that 
good  old  man  Brandt  to  broil  and  to  sweat  much  more  by  his 
excrements,  one  may  easily  guess  how  much  at  that  time  the 
whole  heaven  of  Hamburg  did  hang  full  of  fiddles  as  he  brought 
forth  out  of  it  a  lumen  which,  in  the  world,  is  counted  the  most 
i  perfect  agens  intrinsicum.  There  was  then  cried  nothing  but 
triumph  and  victory  among  the  chymists.  Those  good  people 
erected  already  in  their  thoughts  so  many  hospitals  and  poor- 
houses  that  no  beggar  should  ever  more  molest  any  man  in  the 
streets,  made  great  legacies,  and  pious  causes,  and  what  not  else. 
Besides,  the  other  alchymists  did  encourage  him  yet  more, 
and  desisted  not  to  make  him  believe  how  this  was  that  same 
