148 
PHOSPHORUS  AND  MATCH  MANUFACTURES. 
the  end  of  the  glass  tube  was  broken  off,  and  the  phosphorus  now 
exposed  to  the  air,  oxidised  quickly  and  inflamed. 
The  next  plan  consisted  of  a  well-corked  bottle,  coated  inter- 
nally with  phosphorus  :  a  sulphur  match  was  introduced  into  it, 
and  a  little  of  the  phosphorus  adhering  to  the  top  of  the  match, 
caused  the  sulphur  to  inflame  on  coming  into  contact  with  the  air. 
If  it  failed  to  ignite,  the  action  was  assisted  by  rubbing  the 
match  upon  the  cork  of  the  bottle. 
Homberg's  pyrophorus,  or  fire-bearer,  consisted  of  a  dried  and 
roasted  mixture  of  three  parts  of  alum  and  two  parts  of  flour  or 
sugar  contained  in  a  well  closed  bottle.  A  little  of  this  powder 
exposed  to  the  air  upon  cotton  wool  ignited  the  cotton.  This 
mixture  contained  no  phosphorus.  There  were  several  other 
mixtures  of  a  similar  kind  by  Gay  Lussac,  Dr.  Hare,  and  others, 
but  they  were  only  used  by  the  curious  and  scientific. 
The  "  inflammable  air-lamp  "  of  Volta  consisted  of  a  stout  glass 
vessel  containing  zinc  and  diluted  oil  of  vitriol.  Hydrogen  gas 
was  generated  by  these  substances,  and  on  turning  a  cock  the 
issuing  jet  of  gas  was  ignited  by  an  ingenious  contrivance,  con- 
sisting of  an  electrophorus,  which  passed  an  electric  spark 
through  it  at  the  moment. 
The  "  light  syringe  "  consisted  of  a  vertical  brass  cylinder 
and  piston,  with  a  small  piece  of  tinder  placed  inside  at  the  bot- 
tom and  closed  end.  On  compressing  the  piston  very  rapidly 
and  with  great  force,  heat  was  evolved  by  the  condensation  of 
the  air  and  ignited  the  tinder,  which  was  then  removed  by  vari- 
ous contrivances.. 
In  1804,  a  little  bottle,  containing  a  mixture  of  phosphorus, 
oil,  and  wax  came  into  use.  A  sulphur  match  was  dipped  into 
the  composition  and  then  ignited  by  rubbing  it  upon  the  cork  of 
the  bottle.  This  was  succeeded  by  a  similar  bottle  of  compo- 
sition, with  matches  tipped  with  a  mixture  of  sulphur  and  chlor- 
ate of  potash. 
In  1807,  the  "chemical  matches,"  composed  of  sulphur  match- 
es tipped  with  a  mixture  of  chlorate  of  potash,  sugar,  gum,  Ver- 
million, and  sometimes  camphor,  were  invented.  They  were  igni- 
ted by  dipping  them  into  a  bottle  containing  abestos  fibre  moist- 
ened with  sulphuric  acid. 
About  the  year  1820,  Doberiener  discovered  that  finely-divided 
