Jasper Banner, Volume 2, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 April 1855 — Phosphorus. [ARTICLE]

Phosphorus.

It is now. just two hundred year* j since phosphorus was first obtained !by Brand of Hamburg. So wonderful was the discovery then considered, that Kraft, an eminent philosopher of tiie day, gave Brand thre* hundred dollars for the secret of it* preparation. Kraft then traveled, visiting nearly all the Courts of Europe, exhibiting phosphorus to king* and nobles, in phosphorus resembles beeswax; but it i* more transparent, approaching to. the color of amber. Its name, which is derived from the Greek, signifie* “light-bearer,” and is indicative of it* most distinguishing quality, being self-luminous. Phosphorus, when exposed to the air, shines like a »t«r, giving out a beautiful lambent greenish light. Phosphorus desolves in warm sweet oil. if this phosphori*ed oil be rubbed over the face, in tiro dark the features assume a ghastly .appearance,, and- the experimentali*t looks like a veritable living Will-of-. The origin of phosphorus is the most remarkable thing concerning it. Every other substance with which we are acquainted cart bo traced either to the earth or air; but phosphorus seems to be of animal origin. Of all animals, man contain* the most; and of the various parts of the body, the brain yields, by analysis, more phosphorus than any other. Thi# fact is of no little moment. Every thought has perhaps a phosphorus source. It is certain that the most intellectual beings contain the most phosphorus. It generally happens that when a singular discovery is made, many years elapse before any application of it i* mad* to the welfare and happiness of man. This remark applies to. phosphoru*. It is only the other day that it wa» sold at five shillings an ounce; now it is so cheap the penniless portion of our population hawk it about the streets in the form of matches. But what a noble life, light and fire-giv-ing office does it fill! For commercial purposes, match-making, phosphorus is extracted from burnt bones. The demand for It is now *6 great that many tuns are annually prepared. When Kraft traveled, ne had not more than half an ounoe “to set before the king!” DCrWe learn fromr.eliabuTauthority that a prominent landlord of thia city, caused a p oot widow and her little daughter, a child a few yean old, to be forcibly ejected from one of hie so-called bouses, at nine o’clock on Saturday night last, for the reason that she was unable to pay the rent at that time. He who will thus treat the widow and orpban*—surn them at that hour oftiight from house and home! under such circumsteqce*. is “fit for treason, stratagem, crime !’* — hhfayctit fraxretc.