JAPANESE PAPER MATCHES,

When lighted, burn with a small, scarcely luminous flame, a red-hot ball of glowing saline matter accumulating as the combustion proceeds. When about one-half of the match had been consumed, the glowing heat begins to send forth a succession of splendid sparks. The phenomenon gradually assumes the character of a brilliant scintillation, very similar to that observed on burning a steel spring in oxygen, only much more delicate, the individual sparks branching out in beautiful dendritic ramifications. A mixture of carbon, 1 (powdered wood charcoal) ; sulphur, 1 1/2 ; and nitre, 3 1/4, produce the phenomenon. English tissue-paper may be used for the wrapper. The finest matches are, however, obtained by employing genuine Japanese paper.

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