Phosphorus has long played a dominant role in the preparation of matches. The first attempt at making them in their modern form appears to have occurred about 1680. Small pieces of phosphorus were used in connection with small splints of wood dipped in sulphur. This type of match did not come into general use until after the beginning of the nineteenth century, owing to its danger and expense. White or yellow phosphorus is a deadly poison; therefore the progress of the phosphorus match was inhibited until the discovery of the relatively harmless form known as red phosphorus. The first commercial application of this form was made in about 1850. An early ingenious device consisted of a piece of phosphorus contained in a tube. A piston fitted snugly into the tube, by means of which the air could be compressed and the phosphorus ignited. Sulphur matches were ignited from the burning tinder, the latter being fired by flint and steel. In 1828 another form of match consisted of a glass tube containing sulphuric acid and surrounded by a mixture of chlorate of potash and sugar. A pair of nippers was supplied with each box of these "matches," by means of which the tip of the glass tube could be broken off. This liberated the acid, which upon mixing with the other ingredients set fire to them. To this contrivance a roll of paper was attached which was ignited by the burning chemicals. The lucifer or friction matches appeared in about 1827, but successful phosphorus matches were first made in about 1833. The so-called safety match of the present time was invented in the year 1855. To-day, the total daily output of matches reaches millions and perhaps billions. Automatic machinery is employed in preparing the splints of wood and in dipping them into molten paraffin wax and finally into the igniting composition. During recent years the principle of the tinder-box has been revived in a device in which sparks are produced by rubbing the mineral cerite (a hydrous silicate of cerium and allied metals) against steel. These sparks ignite a gas-jet or a wick soaked in a highly inflammable liquid such as gasolene or alcohol. This device is a tinder-box of the modern scientific age. Naturally with the advent of electricity, electrical sparks came into use for lighting gas-jets and mantles and in isolated instances they have served as light-sources. Doubtless, every one is familiar with the parlor stunt of igniting a gas-jet from the discharge from the finger-tips of static electricity accumulated by shuffling the feet across the floor-rug. Although many of these methods and devices have been used primarily for making fire, they have served as emergency or momentary light-sources. In the outskirts of civilization some of them are employed at the present time and various modern light-sources require a method of ignition. III PRIMITIVE LIGHT-SOURCES