52  PHOSPHORUS  AND  MATCH  MANUFACTURES. 
In  No.  150  (August  10,  1683),  p.  289,  is  also  given  "An 
Account  of  some  Experiments  made  at  several  meetings  of  the 
Royal  Society  by  the  ingenious  Frederick  Slare,  M.D.,  F.R.S., 
and  one  of  the  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  with  some  short 
applications  of  them  to  physical  matters."  He  gives  "  A  Pa- 
rallel between  Lightning  and  a  Phosphorus,"  and  relates  a  num- 
ber of  experiments  of  adding  phosphorus  to  oil  of  vitriol,  water, 
oil  of  turpentine,  and  oil  of  petroleum,  producing  combustion, 
&c.  &c. 
And  in  No.  196,  p.  579,  dated  January,  169§,  is  "  A  paper  of 
the  Honorable  Robert  Boyle's,  deposited  with  the  Secretaries 
of  the  Royal  Society,  October  14,  1680,  and  opened  since  his 
death,  being  an  account  of  his  making  phosphorus,  &c."  "Sep- 
tember 30,  1680.    There  was  taken  a  considerable  quantity  of 
man's  urine  (because  the  liquor  yields  but  a  small  proportion  of 
the  desired  quintessence),  of  this  a  good  part  at  least  had  been 
for  a  pretty  wThile  digested  before  it  was  used.     Then  this 
liquor  was  distilled  with  a  moderate  heat,  till  the  spirituous  and 
saline  parts  were  drawn  olf,  after  which  the  superfluous  moisture 
also  was  abstracted  (or  evaporated  away),  till  the  remaining  sub- 
stance was  brought  to  the  consistence  of  a  somewhat  thick  syrup, 
or  a  thin  extract.     This  done,  it  was  well  incorporated  with 
thrice  its  weight  of  fine  white  sand,  and  the  mixture  being  put 
into  a  strong  stone  retort,  to  which  a  large  receiver  (in  good  part 
filled  with  water)  was  so  joyn'd  that  the  nose  of  the  retort  did 
almost  touch  the  water.    Then,  the  two  vessels  being  carefully 
luted  together,  a  naked  fire  was  gradually  administered  for  five 
or  six  hours,  so  that  what  was  either  phlegmatick  or  volatile 
might  come  over  first.    When  this  was  done  the  fire  was  in- 
creased, and  at  length  for  five  or  six  hours  was  made  as  strong 
and  intense  as  the  furnace  (which  was  not  bad)  was  capable  of 
giving,  (which  violence  of  fire  is  a  circumstance  not  to  be  omit- 
ted in  the  operation).     By  this  means  there  came  over  good 
store  of  white  fumes,  almost  like  those  that  appear  in  the  distil- 
lation of  oyl  of  vitriol ;  and  when  those  fumes  were  passed  and  the 
receiver  grew  clear,  they  were  after  a  while  succeeded  by  another 
sort,  that  seemed  in  the  receiver  to  give  a  faint,  blewish  light, 
almost  like  that  of  little  burning  matches  dipped  in  sulphur. 
And,  last  of  all,  the  fire  being  very  vehement,  there  passed  over 
another  substance  that  was  judg'd  more  ponderous  than  the  for- 
