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Safety Matches

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In 1847 Schrötter, an Austrian chemist, discovered that red phosphorus gives off no fumes, and is virtually inert; but being mixed with chlorate of potash under slight pressure it explodes with violence. In 1855 Herr Böttger, of Sweden, put the red phosphorus on the box and the phosphorus on the match, so that the match must be rubbed on the box to bring the two together. (See Prometheans, Lucifers.)

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Sadda
Sadder and a Wiser man (A)
Saddle
Saddletree (Mr. Bartoline)
Sadducees
Sadi or Saadi
Sadler’s Wells (London)
Sadlerian Lectures
Sæhrimnir [Sza-rim-ner]
Safa
Safety Matches
Saffron
Saffron Veil
Saga (plural Sagas)
Sagan of Jerusalem
Sages (The Seven)
Sagittarius
Sagittary
Sagramour le Desirus
Sahib (in Bengalee, Saheb)
Sail