Common phosphorus is perfectly and rapidly dissolved by bisulphide of carbon. The solution must be carefully preserved, as it is a liquid combustible, which takes fire spontaneously after the bisulphide of carbon evaporates; so that wherever it is dropped, a flame, arising from the spontaneous combustion of the finely-divided phosphorus, is sure to be produced. This liquid was recommended many years ago to the Government for the purpose of setting sails of ships or other combustible matter on fire. The solution of phosphorus alone did not answer the purpose, as already explained in the first experiment; but when wax was dissolved with the phosphorus, it then became a most dangerous fluid, which it was recommended should be used in shells, and discharged from a mortar or howitzer in the ordinary manner. Dr. Lyon Playfair was the first to make this proposed application of the solution, and it has since, we believe, been recommended by Captain Norton in his liquid-fire shells. _Third Experiment._ One of the most curious facts in connexion with phosphorus, is its assumption of the allotropic state in what is termed _amorphous_ (shapeless) or red phosphorus. This substance, when handled for the first time, might be mistaken for a lump of badly-made Venetian red. There is no risk of its taking fire like the common phosphorus, and it does not (according to Schrötter, of Berlin, who discovered this peculiar condition) exhale those fumes which are so prejudicial to the lucifer-match makers. When the vapour of common phosphorus is continually inhaled, it is said to cause a peculiar and disgusting disease, which terminates in the destruction of the jaw-bone; whilst the bones in other parts of the body become brittle, and arm-bones thus affected are fractured with the slightest blow. The difference between common and red phosphorus is well shown first, [Page 168] by placing a few small pieces of both kinds in separate bottles or vials containing bisulphide of carbon; the common phosphorus, as already explained, quickly dissolves in the liquid, and if poured on a sheet of paper, and hung up, is soon on fire; whilst the red variety is wholly unaffected, and if the bisulphide of carbon is poured off on to paper, it merely evaporates, and no combustion occurs.