“YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A FEW CHEMICALS !”

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 23, Issue 5, 19 January 1912, Page 2

“YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A FEW CHEMICALS !”

" The human body ” ( says the Sketch”) “contains no fewer than four substances which are »© inflamable that, in a pure state, they will “go off” by spontaneous combustion.’ For example, there is phosphorus. The body of a person weighing ■ cm hundred and twenty pounds contains some twenty-two ounces of this substance, which, as our readers will know, readily takes fire of its own accord if exposed to the air. It is combined with lime to make the bones, taking the form of phosphate of lime. The body of a human being weighing one hundred and twenty

pounds contains nearly one and a half ounces of sodium, and nearly two and a half ounces of potassium. The first of these, a substance of silvery whiteness, is so readily' and fiercely combustible that it has to be kept tightly corked in bottles to prevent it from igniting of its own accord. Sodium will take fire it thrown into water, -and so likewise will potassium—the latter with great violence finally exploding and throwing a shower of sparks into the air.