GETTING A LIGHT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2784, 24 July 1907, Page 80

GETTING A LIGHT.

— Advance From. Days. of Rubbing to Days of Striking-— We hold- many, of- the' conveniences of life so cheaply that we Httle think what it would be to go back to tie primitive customs of our forbears in their everyday, life. When we take -a ■mutch and -with a, single scratch strike a. lights we, dr> notf put any particular value on ..anything so common- as a match. Not even, the odourless little spitfire of a "parlour match" commands our appreciation to any great extent.

The fire on the hearthstones of our' forbears was guarded -with, as mncb jealous care as. toe vestal virgins- guarded! it on the ancient altar of the temple of Vesta. The fire was never allowed to die. out entirely- on the hearthstones in the days before matches were invented. The red coals were buried *nder the ashes so _ that they could be uncovered and fannedinto a flame when more fire was needed. - ' The process of rubbing two sticks ofwood together until tihey produced a flame is a very ancient one. It is one of the most primitive ways of obtaining fire. Ib k said that this process obtained in the days of ancient Greece and Borne, when the prints of Jupiter had' to kindle a fire,' and all the American Indian tribes used it wlhen they wanted fire. T!he inventive mind of man began to improve on Jtrifl method long before the idea of such a thing as a match was ever . conceived* One writer who has written exhaustively on the subject of fire says: "Labour was saved, as 'well as greater rapidity obr taLned, by using a bow end with one turn of its string twisted around the vertical stick, whicfe we may ©all the *drill,' so that by moving it back and forth the drill revolved with great rapidity in the lower piece of wood 1 , which is technically called the ' hearth.' A . further- advance was made. Man. has only two hands, and he found that a third point of resistance would be an advantage. This he ooukr get when he had a companion, but not when he was alone. So be began to use his mouth to steady the drill, while one hand imparted the motion with the bow. and the other held tilie hearth. Hence we get the mouth <MLI, the additional part of the apparatus being a mouth- - piece of hard wood, bone, or stone, with, a hole in it to receive the head of the drill. Soon it was discovered that weight tells, and a weight was therefore added; to the drill, giving greater impetus, greater speed, and greater friction, and, consequently, greater heat. In this way the Iroquois 'pump drill' was developed."

— One of the First Matches — was made by cutting very thin strips of higihly resinous or dry pinewood, about 6in long, with pointed ends dipped in melted sulphur ; thus prepaired, the sulphur points easily ignited when applied to a spark obtained Dy striking fire into tinder from a flint and steel. These matches were in common use for many years.- Then. -< someone invented the "instantaneous light box." This consisted of a small tin box containing a bottle, in which was plaeell some sulphuric acid, with enough fibrousasbestos to soak it up and prevent its spilling out of the bottle, and a supply of pro-perly-prepared matches. These primitive . matches consisted of small splints of wood about 2in long, one end of which waft coated with a chemical mixture, prepared by mixing -chlorate of potash, six parts ; powdered loaf sugar, two parts ; powdered gum arabic, one part ; the whole coloured with a little vermilion and mixed with water until it became a thin paste. The splints were first dipped into melted sulphur and then into the prepared paste. They were really made to burn by dipping the prepared ends into sulphuric acid. ,W« would surely regard this as a pretty bothersome kind of a match, and one with which it would not be easy to strike- a lighJr if one wanted to light the gas in one's house in the dark. One would need a light' in order to strike a light with matches of. this kind. A common name for matches of this' kind was "spunks." ' ' • <:i -"

It was not until about the year 1835 that the. friction method! of obtaining a light began to bo developed and friction matches came into use. There axe .many persons still living who have a distmpctrecollection of the firs* friction matches, and these matches were looked upon "with some distrust at first because of the ease with which they "went off." Some feared that they might "go off" of their own accord and hunt people out of house and) •home. In the year 1823 a peculiar match was introduced. Phosphorus and sulphur, wete carefully mixed' in a glass tube tightly corked. A splinter of wood was slipped into the tube, a small portion of the mixture was drawn out, and when tnja was exposed to the air it ignited' and eeb fire to the wood. But this was not a very, "handy" matcfi, after all, and people clamoured, for something still simpler and more effective. John Walker, a druggpefa in England, invented the fjrst really .practical friction matches, giving to <Bvem the name of "Gongxeves." ' They were' of tbin strips of wood, or cardboard, coated and dipped with sulphur, and tipped with a mixture of sulphide of antimony, chlorate of potash, and mucilage. But tiiey were expensive and beyond the »ach of t*« common people, costing £5 for seven dozen of them. Take it "by and large" it would be difficult to mention an invention of greater utility to mankind! as a genuine convenience and necessity than th * common match that we buy and holrt *o cheaply..