452
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. VIL JUNE s, 1907.
to light a fire or a candle directly by the
ignited tinder, which usually consisted of
charred linen or cotton rags, and was kept
in a tin box provided with a closely fitting
cover. The latter was the tinder-box.
In early times the matches seem to have been coarse strings of tow, hemp, cotton, or some such material, dipped in melted sulphur ; but all these gave way to the simple wooden splint, one end of which was cut to a fine point, while the other was left thick, and both ends were coated with sulphur or brimstone. The word " match " is derived from an old word signifying the wick or snuff of a candle, but, like many other technical terms, it has changed its meaning. The first matches, however, were probably made of candle-wicking.
The matches made of wood, the ends being coated with sulphur, were in general use in my boyhood (seventy years ago), and I have made hundreds of them, perhaps thousands. They were the only kind in common use, and most families made their own, the job being generally assigned to the boys. The pointed end was used for getting a light from ignited tinder, which would not set fire to any considerable mass either of sulphur or any other material ; the thick end was used for obtaining a light from burning coals which it might be difficult to fan into a flame.
The process of lighting a candle was as follows. By striking a piece of properly tempered steel with a sharp-edged flint, giving the latter a scraping motion, a shower of sparks was thrown down on the tinder and set it on fire ; then it was easy to light the sharp end of the brimstone match, and with this to light the candle. In dexterous hands, with good flint, steel, and tinder, the process did not take long ; I have lighted a candle in this way in forty seconds.
Gulliver in his ' Voyage to Laputa ' tells us that when he reached one of the desert isles he had " about him his flint, steel, match, and burning-glass." The match here mentioned may have been rags, paper, or candle-wicking soaked in nitre. This was written prior to 1727 (the date of publication), and long before friction or, as they are sometimes called, lucifer matches had been thought of. Phosphorus had been discovered in 1669, and had been used in connexion with the old brimstone match ; but in this case it served merely as a sub- stitute for the flint, steel, and tinder.
Paterson, N.J.
In Hampshire the inhabitants used
matches made of triangle-shape brown paper,
the three corners being dipped in melted
brimstone. My mother informs me that
this method was still in use in 1840.
ALFBED SYDNEY LEWIS.
Library, Constitutional Club.
FLINT AND STEEL (10 S. vii. 329, 377, 396, 418). MB. WELFOBD asks if the steel was ever the moving body while the flint re- ceived the impact. It depended upon the material that was to be ignited. Charred rags in a tinder-box were always ignited by holding the steel over the box and striking it with the flint. The flint cut off a series of small shavings, which were ignited by the energy required to separate them from the steel mass, and these, falling on the tinder, set it on fire. These sparks will not (or will very rarely) set fire to a fine cambric handkerchief, and will not burn the hand. If they are caught on a sheet of clean paper and examined under the microscope, many of them are found to be fused globules of oxidized iron ; others are minute curled shavings which show the blueing or blacken- ing effect of intense heat. But when rags soaked in a solution of nitre or bichromate of potash were used, they were laid on the upper surface of the flint, the edge of which was struck with a scraping motion by the steel. The shavings or sparks were then thrown on the upper surface of the flint, and ignited the matter lying thereon.. Thick brown paper soaked in nitre was often used for this purpose, and was known as " touch paper.
Both ways were used, according to cir- cumstances. JOHN PHIN.
442, 15th Avenue, Paterson, N.J.
In Hampshire the inhabitants held the steel in the left hand, striking with the flint in the right. There is an interesting little volume (published 1889) in " The Romance of Science Series," entitled ' The Storyj of, a Tinder-Box,' by Charles Meymott Tidy, M.B., in which he explains' the method of using the flint and steel ; and on p. 15 there is an illustration of the flint and steel, tinder-box, and wood matches.
ALFBED SYDNEY LEWIS. Library, Constitutional Club.
There must be many hale and hearty individuals still living who well remember the passing of flint and steel and the coming of congreve and lucifer. In my native county, Surrey, the steel was invariably held in the left hand by a loop handle, and
