My young friends, Some months ago the Directors of this Institution honoured me with a request that I should deliver a course of Christmas Juvenile Lectures. I must admit I did my best to shirk the task, feeling that the duty would be better intrusted to one who had fewer demands upon his time. It was under the genial influence of a bright summer’s afternoon, when one thought Christmas-tide such a long way off that it might never come, that I consented to undertake this course of lectures. No sooner had I done so than I was pressed to name a subject. Now it is a very difficult thing to choose a subject, and especially a subject for a course of juvenile lectures; and I will take you thus much into my confidence by telling you that I selected the subject upon which I am to speak to you, long before I had a notion what I could make of it, or indeed whether I could make anything at all of it. I mention these details to ask you and our elders who honour us you and me with their company at these lectures, for some little indulgence, if at times the story I have to tell proves somewhat commonplace, something you may have heard before, a tale oft told. My sole desire is that these lectures should be true juvenile lectures.

Well, you all know what this is? [Holding up a box of matches.] It is a box of matches. And you know, moreover, what it is used for, and how to use it. I will take out one of the matches, rub it on the box, and “strike a light.” You say that experiment is commonplace enough. Be it so. At any rate, I want you to recollect that phrase “strike a light.” It will occur again in our course of lectures. But, you must know, there was a time when people wanted fire, but had no matches wherewith to procure it. How did they obtain fire? The necessity for, and therefore the art of producing, fire is, I should suppose, as old as the world itself. Although it may be true that our very earliest ancestors relied for necessary food chiefly on an uncooked vegetable diet, nevertheless it is certain that very early in the history of the world people discovered that cooked meat (the venison that our souls love) was a thing not altogether to be despised. Certainly by the time of Tubal Cain, an early worker in metals, not only the methods of producing fire, but also the uses to which fire could be applied, must have been well understood. Imagine the astonishment of our ancestors when they first saw fire! Possibly, the first sight of this wonderful “element” vouchsafed to mortals was a burning mountain, or something of that kind. One is scarcely astonished that there should have been in those early times a number of people who were professed fire-worshippers. No wonder, I say, that fire should have been regarded with intense reverence. It constituted an essential part of early sacrificial worship. Some of my young friends, too, may remember how in ancient Rome there was a special order (called the order of the Vestal Virgins), whose duty it was to preserve the sacred fire, which if once extinguished, it was thought would bring ruin and destruction upon their city.

How did our ancestors, think you, obtain fire in those early times? I suggested a burning mountain as a source of fire. You remember, too, perhaps reading about Prometheus, who stole fire from heaven, bringing it to earth in a copper rod, which combined act of theft and scientific experiment made the gods very angry, because they were afraid mortals might learn as many wonderful things as they knew themselves. History seems to show that the energetic rubbing together of dry sticks was one of the earliest methods adopted by our ancestors for producing fire. I find, for instance, described and pictured by an early author some such plan as the following: A thick piece of wood was placed upon the ground. Into a hole bored in this piece of wood a cone of wood was fitted. By placing a boy or man on the top of the cone, and whirling him round, sufficient friction resulted where the two pieces of wood rubbed one against the other to produce fire. Our artist has modernized the picture to give you an idea of the operation (Fi. Now instead of repeating that experiment exactly, I will try to obtain fire by the friction of wood with wood. I take this piece of boxwood, and having cut it to a point, rub it briskly on another piece of wood (Fi. If I employ sufficient energy, I have no doubt I may make it hot enough to fire tinder. Yes! I have done so, as you see. (I will at once apologize for the smoke. Unfortunately we cannot generally have fire without smoke.) Every boy knows that experiment in another form. A boy takes a brass button, and after giving it a good rub on his desk, applies it to the cheek of some inoffensive boy at his side, much to the astonishment of his quiet neighbour. Well, I am going to see whether I can produce fire with a brass button. I have mounted my button, as you see, for certain reasons on a cork, and I will endeavour by rubbing the button on a piece of pinewood to make it sufficiently hot to fire tinder. Already I have done so.

Talking about friction as a means of producing heat, I should like to mention that at the last Paris Exhibition I saw water made to boil, and coffee prepared from it, by the heat resulting from the friction of two copper plates within the liquid.

That then is the earliest history I can give you of the production of fire, and at once from that history I come to the reign of the tinder-box. The tinder-box constitutes one of the very earliest methods, no doubt, of obtaining fire. I have searched for some history of the tinder-box, and all I can say for certain is that it was in use long before the age of printing. I have here several rare old tinder-boxes. I intend showing you in the course of these lectures every detail of their construction and use. I have no doubt this very old tinder-box that you see here (Fi A) was once upon a time kept on the mantel-piece of the kitchen well polished and bright, and I do not doubt but that it has lit hundreds and thousands of fires, and, what is more, has very often been spoken to very disrespectfully when the servant wanted to light the fire, and her master was waiting for his breakfast. I will project a picture of it on the screen, so that you may all see it. There it is. It is a beautiful piece of apparatus. There is the tinder, the steel (Fi b), the flint (c), and the matches (d) complete.

It was with this instrument, long before the invention of matches, that our grandfathers obtained light. I want to show you how the trick was managed. First of all it was necessary to have good tinder. To obtain this, they took a piece of linen and simply charred or burnt it, as you see I am doing now (Fi. (Cambric, I am told, makes the best tinder for match-lighting, and the ladies, in the kindness of their hearts, formerly made a point of saving their old cambric handkerchiefs for this purpose.) The servants prepared the tinder over-night, for reasons I shall explain to you directly. Having made the tinder, they shut it down in the box with the lid (Fi A) to prevent contact with air. You see I have the tinder now safely secured in my tinder-box. Here is a piece of common flint, and here is the steel. Here too are the matches, and I am fortunate in having some of the old matches made many years ago, prepared as you see with a little sulphur upon their tips. Well, having got all these etceteras, box, tinder, flint and steel, we set to work in this way: Taking the steel in one hand, and the flint in the other, I must give the steel a blow, or rather a succession of blows with the flint (Fi B). Notice what beautiful sparks I obtain! I want one of these sparks, if I can persuade it to do so, to fall on my tinder. There! it has done so, and my tinder has caught fire. I blow my fired tinder a little to make it burn better, and now I apply a sulphur match to the red-hot tinder. See, I have succeeded in getting my match in flame. I will now set light to one of these old-fashioned candles a rushlight with which our ancestors were satisfied before the days of gas and electric lighting. This was their light, and this was the way they lighted it. No wonder (perhaps you say) that they went to bed early.

I should like to draw your attention to one other form of tinder-box, because I do not suppose you have ever seen these kind of things before. I have here two specimens of the pistol form of tinder-box (Fi. Here is the flint, the tinder being contained in this little box. It is the same sort of tinder as we made just now. The tinder was fired with flint and steel in the same way as the old-fashioned flint pistols fired the gunpowder. And you see this pistol tinder-box is so constructed as to serve as a candlestick as well as a tinder-box. I have fired, as you perceive, my charred linen with this curious tinder-box, and thus I get my sulphur match alight once more!

It was in the year 1669 that Brandt, an alchemist and a merchant a very distinguished scientific man discovered the remarkable substance I have here, which we call phosphorus. Brandt was an alchemist. I do not know whether you know what an alchemist is. An alchemist was an old-fashioned chemist. These alchemists had three prominent ideas before them. The first thing they sought for was to discover a something a powder they thought it ought to be that would change the commoner or baser metals (such as iron) into gold. The second idea was to discover “a universal solvent,” that is, a liquid which would dissolve everything, and they hoped out of this liquid to be able to crystallize gems. And then, having obtained gold and gems, the third thing they desired was “a vital elixir” to prolong their lives indefinitely to enjoy the gold and gems they had manufactured. These were the modest aims of alchemy. Well now although you may say such notions sound very foolish let me tell you that great practical discoveries had their origin in the very out-of-the-way researches of the alchemists. Depend upon this, that an object of lofty pursuit, though that object be one of practically impossible attainment, is not unworthy the ambition of the scientific man. Though we cannot scale the summit of the volcanic cone, we may notwithstanding reach a point where we can examine the lava its fires have melted. We may do a great deal even in our attempt to grasp the impossible. It was so with Brandt. He was searching for a something that would change the baser metals into gold, and, in the search, he discovered phosphorus. The chief thing that struck Brandt about phosphorus was its property of shining in the dark without having previously been exposed to light. A great many substances were known to science even at that time that shone in the dark after they had been exposed to light. But it was not until Brandt, in the year 1669, discovered phosphorus that a substance luminous in the dark, without having been previously exposed to light, had been observed. I should like, in passing, to show you how beautifully these phosphorescent powders shine after having been exposed to a powerful light. See how magnificently brilliant they are! These, or something like them, were known before the time of Brandt.

Shortly after phosphorus had been discovered, people came to the conclusion that it might be employed for the purpose of procuring artificial light. But I want you to note, that although phosphorus was discovered in 1669 (and the general properties of phosphorus seem to have been studied and were well understood within five years of its discovery), it was not until the year 1833 that phosphorus matches became a commercial success, so that until the year 1833, our old friend the tinder-box held its ground. I will try and give you as nearly as I can a complete list of the various attempts made with the purpose of procuring fire between the years 1669 and 1833.

The first invention was what were called “phosphoric tapers.” From the accounts given (although it is not easy to understand the description), phosphoric tapers seem to have been sulphur matches with a little piece of phosphorus enclosed in glass fixed on the top of the match, the idea being that you had only to break the glass and expose the phosphorus to air for it to catch fire immediately and ignite the sulphur. If this was the notion (although I am not sure), it is not easy to understand how the phosphoric tapers were worked. The second invention for the purpose of utilizing phosphorus for getting fire was by scraping with a match a little phosphorus from a bottle coated with a phosphorus composition, and firing it by friction. The fact is, phosphorus may be easily ignited by slight friction. If I wrap a small piece of phosphorus in paper, as I am doing now, and rub the paper on the table, you see I readily fire my phosphorus.

After this, “Homberg’s Pyrophorus,” consisting of a roasted mixture of alum and flour, was suggested as a means of obtaining fire. Then comes the “Electrophorus,” an electrical instrument suggested by Volta, which was thought at the time a grand invention for the purpose of getting light (Fi A). The nuisance about this instrument was that it proved somewhat capricious in its action, and altogether declined to work in damp foggy weather. I do not know whether I shall be successful in lighting a gas-jet with the electrophorus, but I will try. I excite this plate of resin with a cat-skin (Fi B), then put this brass plate upon the resin plate and touch the brass (Fi C); then take the brass plate off the resin plate by the insulating handle and draw a spark from it, which I hope will light the gas. There, I have done it! (Fi D.)

Well, next after the electrophorus comes the “fire syringe” (Fi. The necessary heat in this case is produced by the compression of air. You see in this syringe stopped at one end, I have a certain quantity of air. My piston-rod (C) fits very closely into the syringe (B), so that the air cannot escape. If I push the piston down I compress the air particles, for they can’t get out; I make them in fact occupy less bulk. In the act of compressing the air I produce heat, and the heat, as you see, fires my tinder.

It was in or about the year 1807 that “chemical matches” were introduced to the public for the first time. These chemical matches were simply sulphur matches tipped with a mixture of chlorate of potash and sugar. These matches were fired by dipping them in a bottle containing asbestos moistened with sulphuric acid. Here is one of these “chemical matches,” and here the bottle of asbestos and sulphuric acid. I dip the match into the bottle and, as you see, it catches fire.

In the year 1820, Dobereiner, a very learned man, discovered a method of getting fire by permitting a jet of hydrogen to play upon finely-divided platinum. The platinum, owing to a property it possesses in a high degree (which property however is not special to platinum), has the power of coercing the union of the hydrogen and oxygen. Here is one of Dobereiner’s original lamps (Fi. I am going to show you the experiment, however, on a somewhat larger scale than this lamp permits. Here I have a quantity of fine platinum-wire, made up in the form of a rosette. I place this over the coal-gas as it issues from the gas-burner, and, as you see, the platinum begins to glow, until at last it becomes sufficiently hot to fire the gas (Fi.

In the year 1826 what were called “lucifers” were invented, and I show you here some of the original “lucifers.” They are simply sulphur matches tipped with a mixture of chlorate of potash and sulphide of antimony, and were ignited by drawing them briskly through a little piece of folded glass-paper.

In the year 1828, “Prometheans” were invented. I have here two of the original “Prometheans.” They consist (as you see) of a small quantity of chlorate of potash and sugar rolled up tightly in a piece of paper. Inside the paper roll is placed a small and sealed glass bubble containing sulphuric acid. When it was wanted to light a “Promethean” you had only to break the bulb of sulphuric acid, the action of which set fire to the mixture of chlorate of potash and sugar, which ignited the paper roll.

In the year 1830 “matches” with sulphur tips were introduced as a means of obtaining fire. They were fired, so far as I can make out, by dipping them into a bottle containing a little phosphorus, which then had to be ignited by friction.

So far as I know, I have now given you very shortly the history of obtaining fire between the years 1669 and 1830. You see how brisk ingenuity had been during this long period, and yet nothing ousted our old friend the tinder-box. The tinder-box seems, as it were, to speak to us with a feeling of pride and say, “Yes, all you have been talking about were the clever ideas of clever men, but I lived through them all; my flint and my steel were easily procured, my ingredients were not dangerous, and I was fairly certain in my action.”

In the year 1833 the reign of the tinder-box came to an end. It had had a very long innings many, many hundred years; but in 1833 its reign was finished. It was in this year the discovery was announced, that bone could be made to yield large quantities of phosphorus at a cheap rate. Originally the price of phosphorus was sufficient to prevent its every-day use. Hanckwitz thus advertises it “For the information of the curious, he is the only one in London who makes inflammable phosphorus that can be preserved in water. All varieties unadulterated. Sells wholesale and retail. Wholesale, 50s. per oz.; retail, L3 sterling per oz. Every description of good drugs. My portrait will be distributed amongst my customers as a keepsake.”

Let me give you a brief account of the method of preparing lucifer matches, and to illustrate this part of my story, I am indebted to Messrs. Bryant and May for specimens. Pieces of wood are cut into blocks of the size you see here (Fi A). These blocks are then cut into little pieces, or splints, of about one-eighth of an inch square (Fi b). By the bye, abroad they usually make their match splints round by forcing them through a circular plate, pierced with small round holes. I do not know why we in England make our matches square, except for the reason that Englishmen are fond of doing things on the square. The next part of the process is to coat the splints with paraffin or melted sulphur. The necessity for this coating of sulphur or paraffin you will understand by an experiment. If I take some pieces of phosphorus and place them upon a sheet of cartridge paper, and then set fire to the pieces of phosphorus, curiously enough, the ignited phosphorus will not set fire to the paper. I have taken five little pieces of phosphorus (as you see), so as to give the paper every chance of catching fire (Fi. Now that is exactly what would happen if paraffin (or some similarly combustible body) was not placed on the end of the splint; my phosphorus would burn when I rubbed it on the box, but it would not set fire to the match. It is essential, therefore, as you see, in the first instance, to put something on the match that the ignited phosphorus will easily fire, and which will ignite the wood. I will say no more about this now, as I shall have to draw your attention to the subject in another lecture. The end of the splints are generally scorched by contact with a hot plate before they are dipped in the paraffin, after which the phosphorus composition is applied to the match. This composition is simply a mixture of phosphorus, glue, and chlorate of potash. The composition is spread upon a warm plate, and the matches dipped on the plate, so that a small quantity of the phosphorus mixture may adhere to the tip of the match. Every match passes through about seventeen people’s hands before it is finished. I told you that in England we generally use chlorate of potash in the preparation of the phosphorus composition, whilst abroad nitrate of potash is usually employed. You know that when we strike a light with an English match a slight snap results, which is due to the chlorate of potash in the match. In the case of nitrate of potash no such snapping noise occurs. Some people are wicked enough to call them “thieves’ matches.” Just let me show you (in passing) how a mixture of chlorate of potash and sulphur explodes when I strike it.

Now, then, comes a very remarkable story to which I desire to draw your attention. There were many disadvantages in the use of this yellow phosphorus. First of all, it is a poisonous substance; and what is more, the vapour of the phosphorus was liable to affect the workpeople engaged in the manufacture of lucifer matches with a bad disease of the jaw, and which was practically, I am afraid, incurable. A very great chemist, Schroetter, discovered that phosphorus existed under another form, some of which I have here. This, which is of a red colour, was found to be exactly the same chemical substance as the yellow phosphorus, but possessing in many respects different properties. For instance, you see I keep this yellow phosphorus under water; I don’t keep the red phosphorus in water. Amongst other peculiarities it was found that red phosphorus was not a poison, whilst the yellow phosphorus was, as I told you, very poisonous indeed. About two to three grains of yellow phosphorus is sufficient to poison an adult. I have known several cases of children poisoned by sucking the ends of phosphorus matches. So you see it was not unimportant for the workpeople, as well as for the public generally, that something should be discovered equally effective to take the place of this poisonous yellow phosphorus.

I should like to show you what very different properties these two kinds of phosphorus possess. For instance, if I take a small piece of the yellow phosphorus and pour upon it a little of this liquid bi-sulphide of carbon and in another bottle treat the red phosphorus in a similar way, we shall find the yellow phosphorus is soluble in the liquid, whilst the red is not. I will pour these solutions on blotting-paper, when you will find that the solution of the yellow phosphorus will before long catch fire spontaneously (Fi A), whilst the solution (although it is not a solution, for the red phosphorus is not soluble in the bi-sulphide of carbon) of the red phosphorus will not fire (Fi B). Again, if I add a little iodine to the yellow phosphorus, you see it immediately catches fire (Fi a); but the same result does not follow with the red phosphorus (Fi b). I will show you an experiment, however, to prove, notwithstanding these different properties, that this red and yellow material are the same elementary body. I will take a little piece of the yellow phosphorus, and after igniting it introduce it into a jar containing oxygen, and I will make a similar experiment with the red phosphorus. You will notice that the red phosphorus does not catch fire quite so readily as the yellow. However, exactly the same result takes place when they burn you get the same white smoke with each, and they combust equally brilliantly. The red and yellow varieties are the same body that is what I want to show you with different properties.

Then comes the next improvement in the manufacture of matches, which is putting the phosphorus on the box and not on the match. This is why the use of red phosphorus, was introduced into this country by Messrs. Bryant and May. I have no doubt that many a good drawing-room paper has been spared by the use of matches that light only on the box.

I cannot help thinking that the old tinder-box, which I have placed on the table in a prominent position before you to-night, feels a certain pleasure in listening to our story. Envious perhaps a little of its successor, it nevertheless fully recognizes that its own reign had been a thousand times longer than that of the lucifer match. If we could only hear that tinder-box talk, I think we should find it saying something of this kind to the lucifer match “I gave way to you, because my time was over; but mind, your turn will come next, and you will then have to give way to something else, as once upon a time I had to give way to you.” And that is the end of the first chapter of my story of a tinder-box.