146  PHOSPHORUS  AND  MATCH  MANUFACTURES. 
may  be  kept  in  the  dry  state,  exposed  to  the  air,  without  inflam- 
ing ;  whilst  the  ordinary  variety,  under  the  same  circumstances 
quickly  ignites.  The  minutest  quantity  of  ordinary  phosphorus 
in  the  red  or  amorphous  variety  can  be  detected  by  digesting  the 
latter,  in  the  state  of  powder,  in  bisulphide  of  carbon,  and  then 
letting  fall  a  single  drop  of  the  clear  liquid  upon  a  saucer  float- 
ing upon  boiling  water  in  a  dark  place  ;  luminosity  will  imme- 
diately appear  if  white  phosphorus  is  present. 
There  are  several  uses  to  which  phosphorus  has  been  applied, 
but,  as  far  as  quantity  is  concerned,  almost  the  only  important 
application  is  in  the  manufacture  of  lucifer  matches.  It  is  re- 
markable that,  although  the  property  of  phosphorus  of  igniting 
by  friction  was  known  soon  after  its  discovery,  it  was  not  until 
about  the  year  1833,  that  it  was  successfully  applied  to  the  man- 
ufacture of  matches.  It  was  then  sold  wholesale  at  four  guineas 
a  pound  ;  in  1837,  at  two  guineas  ;  and  at  the  present  time,  at 
less  than  half  a-crown.  Manufactories  of  it  exist  in  Great  Britain, 
France  (Lyons),  Bavaria,  Baden,  Austria,  and  Sardinia. 
Since  the  commencement  of  the  manufacture  of  phosphorus 
upon  a  large  scale  in  England,  in  18  i5,  the  value  of  phosphorus 
imported  into  this  country  has  regularly  and  rapidly  decreased. 
According  to  the  reports  of  the  Great  Exhibition  of  1851,  the 
value  of  phosphorus  imported  from  all  parts  into  Great  Britain 
in  1844  was  2567?.,  and  in  1850  only  3/.  And  since  that  period 
it  has  become  an  article  of  constant  export  to  the  Continent  and 
other  parts,  the  proportion  consumed  in  the  United  Kingdom 
being  comparatively  small.  In  his  "  Catechism  of  Agricultural 
Chemistry,"  Professor  Johnson  states  that  200,000  lbs,  of  phos- 
phorus are  consumed  in  London  alone  per  annum.  Persons  con- 
versant with  the  actual  consumption  know  that  at  that  time,  and 
probably  at  the  present  hour,  it  wTould  not  exceed  20,000  lbs. 
It  is  also  stated  in  a  recent  publication  on  Chemistry,  by 
Professor  Muspratt,  (article  "  Phosphorus,"  p.  680,)  that  phos- 
phorus "  is  prepared  as  an  article  of  manufacture  in  large  quan- 
tity in  London  and  Paris.  Kane  has  calculated  that  in  the  latter 
city  alone  about  200,000  lbs,  are  yearly  produced."  There  may 
have  been  once  a  very  small  production  in  London  and  Paris,  but 
it  has  long  since  entirely  ceased.  The  enormous  consumption 
of  fuel  necessitates  that,  for  economic  production,  the  manufac- 
