This match, the first, was introduced in 1505. It was a slip of wood
tipped with a chemical mixture. To light it it was necessary to stick
its head into a bottle containing acid.]
[Illustration: PROMETHEAN MATCH
This was a paper cigarette dipped in a mixture of sugar and potash.
Rolled within the paper was a tiny glass bulb filled with sulphuric
acid. To light the match you pressed the bulb with pincers hard enough
to break the bulb. This released the acid which set fire to the paper.]
What Would We Do Without Matches?
If one were to ask the man in the street what invention of the
nineteenth century is his most constant and invaluable ally he might be
mystified for the moment, but the undoubted answer would surely come
in the single word “Matches.” These familiar objects, apart from their
luxurious use by smokers, are the indispensable servants of mankind
from the moment of rising in the morning till the household is wrapped
in sleep, and it is to them we turn when disturbed in the hours of
darkness.
[Illustration: FIRST LUCIFER MATCH
Invented by John Walker in 1827. It consisted of a stick of wood tipped
with sulphur and then with a chlorate mixture. To ignite it the match
was drawn rapidly through a folded piece of sandpaper.]
[Illustration: MODERN SAFETY MATCH