To manufacture such matches the wood is prepared like other matches, only it should be very dry, particularly at the end of the operation.

When the matches have stayed in the frame, they are laid on cast iron plates, and heated to the point to acquire at their extremity a slightly brown color; these same ends, being very dry, are put, for a few seconds only, on the flat bottom of a dish, covered with from 1/4 to 1/2 an inch of stearic acid, melted by a water bath. A small quantity of the grease is absorbed by the wood, and ascends through the fibre. The end of the match is covered as usual with the phosphorous paste thus formed: -

Phosphorus 3 parts

Gum...... 0.5 "

Water..... 3 "

Sand...... 2 "

Bi-oxide of Lead . . . . 2 "

Coloring Matter . • . . 0.5 "

The stearic acid can be substituted by par-affine, spermaceti, wax, etc.

Matches with stearic acid produce light and fire more rapidly when wanted, the grease and the wood burning simultaneously, whilst with sulphuretted matches it is necessary to wait till all the sulphur has burned superficially before the wood begins to inflame. These last matches in burning exhale a disagreeable odor, whilst the former give a very slight smell of stearic candles.

There is but a trifling difference in the cost, for ten times as much sulphur is required as stearic acid. Indeed 1 pound of stearic acid costs at the most 27 cents, and 10 pounds of refined sulphur cost about the same. This improvement is of real importance.

We have examined the matches called Diamond State Parlor Matches, prepared by Messrs. Swift and Courtney, Wilmington, Del.

They are prepared as the above without any coloring matter, and they are, in our opinion, far superior to the German matches.

Mr. James R. Dey, 66 Cortland St., N. Y., prepares also the diamond matches, and the water-proof Vienna and Strella match, which realize as much as the German matches, and are of superior quality.

The matches we have indicated in the preparation above are colored blue, red, yellow, or green by adding 0.5 of the coloring matter in the mixture, and they are rendered waterproof and shining by coating them with the varnish of which we have indicated the composition; but in our opinion, the diamond matches owe their superiority to this fact, that they do not receive any coating of varnish.