the widows of military men. Only the other
day, a batch of colonels' relicts were promoted
to tobacco-shops that brought in from one to
two hundred sterling per annum; whilst lone
ladies of lower rank were provided for in less
productive establishments. If it be thought
that the state has plenty to do without entering
into this new line of business, there still remains
the easy expedient of imposing a new and heavy
tax.

It is urged that the evil complained of lies,
not so much in the use of lucifers, as in their
abuse; in the prodigality with which everybody
employs and wastes them, in consequence of their
extreme cheapness. Practically, one lucifer,
half a dozen lucifers, is of no money value
whatever. An instantaneous light is a good, a
convenient thing to have—sometimes a thing of
urgent necessity. There is no reason why it
should not be obtainable by prudent persons,
who light, perhaps, not more than five or six
matches a week, while there is great reason why
it should not be come-at-able by careless fellows,
who will burn you a box or more per day, to
light their pipes. If every box cost five shillings,
for instance, it is probable that lucifers
would be used with a very different degree of
economy to what they are now. They would, at
least, be kept out of the way of children. But,
without fixing so high a price, which might
interfere with the utilitarian use of lucifers, if a
box cost only a shilling, only sixpence, the
prudential result would be obtained; private
economy would become the guardian of public
safety.

Any similar check on the abuse of lucifers
must be worked out in England by different
means. We do not abuse lucifers so much as
the French; still we do abuse them a little.
Also, we have more need of lucifers than the
French, in aid of our daily household requirements.
In France, where very little coal is
burnt, but a great deal of turf and wood, a light
is obtainable at many hours when it is not so
with us, by means of an ordinary brimstone
match. On retiring to rest, fires are not put
out; but are covered with the ashes, which are
allowed to accumulate from week to week.
The heat thus retained is generally sufficient to
light a fire next morning without further aid
except a little blowing, and consequently more
than sufficient to ignite a common match tipped
with sulphur only.

As to the imposition of a new tax: the state,
in any case, must have money to oil its
machinery and keep it going; the lucifer tax might
help to relieve the nation from some more
objectionable impost, which it would not be difficult
to indicate. What mother would complain of a
tax which kept such terrible toys out of her
children's hands? What householder would
grumble at paying a premium which would be
the most efficient of all fire insurances? In any
case the subject merits serious consideration.
Neither persons nor property ought to remain at
the unlimited mercy of a material so dangerous
in malevolent hands, and which, by the merest
negligence, may produce such dreadful
consequences.

To save us from falling back on the venerable
tinder-box of our forefathers, two French
gentlemen, Messieurs Devilliers and Dalemagne,
have invented a harmless match, to which they
have given the fanciful name of "Allumettes
Androgynes," or Androgynous Matches. They
have yielded to the public in France their
privileges as patentees, but not to the public of
foreign countries. These matches are tipped at
each end with a different composition; you
break the match in two, about one-third of
its length from the end which does not
light; you rub the two opposite tips
together; and fire is the result. They have the
advantage of not being inflammable without
the concourse of the human will; in
other words, the match does not light unless
people know how to make use of it, in which
case it is inflamed instantaneously all by itself,
without the aid of any foreign body. It is easily
lighted; you may do it with your hands behind
you. It offers no danger of poisoning; it does
not expose the maker to the sad malady of
necrosis or decay of the bone, since the old form
of phosphorus does not enter into its composition.
It is prepared very rapidly, by a cold
process, without employing any combustible,
which is a great safeguard against fire or
explosion; and lastly, it is made so cheaply, that any
intelligent workman with a capital of eight or
ten shillings may set up in France as a
manufacturer of the androgynous match.
Unfortunately, there is a little dispute as to whether
red phosphorus is open to the public. The
Messrs. Coignet (Brothers) and Company
protest to the contrary, asserting that they are the
proprietors of a patent for the transformation of
white into amorphous phosphorus.

An association of partners, calling themselves
La Compagnie Générale, have manufactured
matches which have the advantage of containing
neither phosphorus nor other poison, but which,
till lately, were open to the reproach of missing
fire nine times out of ten. At present they are
so much improved, that they light nearly as
easily as lucifers. There are, therefore, now in
existence five sorts of instantaneous lights: common
lucifers, or allumettes chimiques; lucifers
made red with phosphorus; androgynous matches;
matches with a red-phosphorus grater or rubbing-
plate; and the non-poisonous matches of the
General Company. The first are incontestably
the best, but they are so dangerous that their
use is scarcely to be further tolerated unless
they are subjected to some administrative
precautionary measure. All the matches tipped
with a chemical paste light more or less readily
according to the hygrometrical state of the air;
many a match which is easily ignited when the
weather is dry, is inferior to flint and steel when
the atmosphere is loaded with moisture. It is
a great, pity that the tinder-box is not enforced
by the army and navy regulations in barracks
and on board ship. As soon as the tinder-box
is established as an institution, accidents from