Produced by Chris Curnow, Ritu Aggarwal and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) THE STORY OF A TINDER-BOX. [Illustration: THE STORY OF A TINDER-BOX] _THE ROMANCE OF SCIENCE._ * * * * * THE STORY OF A TINDER-BOX. _A COURSE OF LECTURES_ _Delivered before a Juvenile Auditory at the London Institution during the Christmas Holidays of 1888-89._ BY THE LATE CHARLES MEYMOTT TIDY, M.B., M.S., F.C.S. FORMERLY BARRISTER-AT-LAW; PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY AND OF FORENSIC MEDICINE AT THE LONDON HOSPITAL; MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH FOR ISLINGTON; VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY; ONE OF THE OFFICIAL ANALYSTS TO THE HOME OFFICE. LONDON: SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.; 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C. BRIGHTON: 129, NORTH STREET. NEW YORK: E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO. 1897. [PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE GENERAL LITERATURE COMMITTEE.] PREFACE. These lectures were delivered with the assistance merely of a few notes, the author in preparing them for the press adhering as nearly as possible to the shorthand writer's manuscript. They must be read as intentionally untechnical holiday lectures intended for juveniles. But as the print cannot convey the experiments or the demonstrations, the reader is begged to make the necessary allowance. The author desires to take this opportunity of expressing his thanks to Messrs. Bryant and May; to Messrs. Woodhouse and Rawson, electrical engineers; to Mr. Woolf, the lead-pencil manufacturer; and to Mr. Gardiner, for numerous specimens with which the lectures were illustrated. THE STORY OF A TINDER-BOX LECTURE I.