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MATARO (anc. Iluro)

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 877 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MATARO (anc. Iluro) , a seaport of See also:north-eastern See also:Spain, in the See also:province of See also:Barcelona, on the Mediterranean See also:Sea and the Barcelona-See also:Perpignan railway. Pop. (1900), 19,704. The streets of the new See also:town, lying next the sea, are wide and regularly built; those of the old town, farther up the See also:hill, still preserve much of their See also:ancient See also:character. The See also:parish See also:church of See also:Santa Maria has some See also:good pictures and See also:wood carvings. The See also:wine of the neighbourhood, which resembles See also:port, is shipped in large quantities from Barcelona; and the See also:district furnishes See also:fine See also:roses and strawberries for the Barcelona See also:market. The leading See also:industries are manufactures of See also:linen and See also:cotton goods, especially See also:canvas and See also:tarpaulin, and of See also:soap, See also:paper, chemicals, See also:starch, See also:glass, See also:leather, See also:spirits and See also:flour. The railway to Barcelona, opened in See also:October 1848, was the first to be constructed in Spain. Outside the town is the much-frequented carbonated See also:mineral See also:spring of Argentona. MATCH: 1. O.

Eng. gemaecca, a cognate See also:

form of " make," meaning originally " See also:fit " or " suitable "; a pair, or one of a pair of See also:objects, persons or animals. As particularly applied to a See also:husband and wife, and hence to a See also:marriage, the word is especially used of two persons or things which correspond exactly to each other. The verb " to match " has also the meaning to " See also:pit one against each other," and so is applied in See also:sport to an arranged contest between individuals or sides. 2. O. Fr. mesche; apparently from a latinized form of Gr. ubEa, mucus from the See also:nose, applied to the nozzle of a See also:lamp; primarily the See also:wick which conveys oil or molten See also:wax to the See also:flame of a lamp or See also:candle (this use is now obsolete), the word being then applied to various objects having the See also:property of carrying See also:fire. With See also:early firearms a match, consisting of a See also:cord of See also:hemp or similar material treated with See also:nitre and other substances so that it continued to smoulder after it had been ignited, was used for firing the See also:charge, being either held in the See also:gunner's See also:hand or attached to the See also:cock of the See also:musket or See also:arquebus and brought down by the See also:action of the trigger on the See also:powder priming (" match-See also:lock "); and more or less similar preparations, made to See also:burn more or less rapidly as required (" See also:quick-match " and " slow-match "), are employed as fuses in See also:blasting and demolition See also:work in military operations. The word " match " was further used of a splint of wood, tipped with See also:sulphur so that it would readily ignite, but it now most commonly means a slip of wood or other combustible material, having its end covered with a See also:composition which takes fire when rubbed either on any rough See also:surface or on another specially prepared composition. The first See also:attempt to make matches in the See also:modern sense may probably be ascribed to See also:Godfrey Haukwitz, who, in 168o, acting under the direction of See also:Robert See also:Boyle, who at that See also:time had just discovered how to prepare See also:phosphorus, employed small pieces of that See also:element, ignited by See also:friction, to See also:light splints of .wood dipped in sulphur. This See also:device, however, did not come into extensive use owing to its danger and inconvenience and to the cost of the phosphorus, and till the beginning of the 19th See also:century See also:flint and See also:steel with See also:tinder-See also:box and sulphur-tipped splints of wood—" spunks " or matches—were the See also:common means of obtaining fire for domestic and other purposes. The See also:sparks struck off by the percussion of flint and steel were made to fall among the tinder, which consisted of carbonized fragments of cotton and linen; the entire See also:mass of the tinder was set into a glow, developing sufficient See also:heat to ignite the sulphur with which the matches were tipped, and thereby the splints themselves were set on fire. In 1805 one See also:Chancel, assistant to See also:Professor L.

J. See also:

Thenard of See also:Paris, introduced an apparatus consisting of a small See also:bottle containing See also:asbestos, saturated with strong sulphuric See also:acid, with splints or matches coated with sulphur, and tipped with a mixture of chlorate of potash and See also:sugar. The matches so pre-pared, when brought into contact with the sulphuric acid in the bottle, ignited, and this, by chemical action, fire was produced. In 1823 a decided impetus was given to the artificial See also:production of fire by the introduction of the See also:Dobereiner lamp, so called after its inventor, J. W. Dobereiner of See also:Jena. The first really See also:practical friction matches were made in See also:England in 1827, by See also:John See also:Walker, a druggist of See also:Stockton-on-See also:Tees. These were known as MATCH " Congreves " after See also:Sir See also:William See also:Congreve, the inventor of the Congreve See also:rocket, and consisted of wooden splints or sticks of cardboard coated with sulphur and tipped with a mixture of sulphide of See also:antimony, chlorate of potash and See also:gum. With each box which was retailed at a See also:shilling, there was supplied a folded piece of glass paper, the folds of which were to be tightly pressed together, while the match was See also:drawn through between them. The same See also:idea occurred to Sir See also:Isaac See also:Holden independently two and a See also:half years later. The so-called " Prometheans," patented by S. See also:Jones of See also:London in 1830, consisted of a See also:short See also:roll of paper with a small quantity of a mixture of chlorate of potash and sugar at one end, a thin glass globule of strong sulphuric acid being attached at the same point.

When the sulphuric acid was liberated by pinching the glass globule, it acted on the mixed chlorate and sugar, producing fire. The phosphorus friction-match of the See also:

present See also:day was first introduced on a commercial See also:scale in 1833. It appears to have been made almost simultaneously in several distinct centres. The name most prominently connected with the early stages of the invention is that of J. Preschel of See also:Vienna, who in 1833 had a factory in operation for making phosphorus matches, fusees, and See also:amadou slips tipped with igniting composition. At the same time also matches were being made by F. Moldenhauer in See also:Darmstadt; and for a See also:long See also:series of years See also:Austria and the See also:South-See also:German states were the See also:principal centres of the new See also:industry. But the use of See also:ordinary See also:white or yellow phosphorus as a principal ingredient in the igniting mixture of matches was found to be accompanied with very serious disadvantages. It is a deadly See also:poison, and its See also:free dissemination has-led to many accidental deaths, and to numerous cases of wilful See also:murder and See also:suicide. Workers also who are exposed to phosphoric vapours are subject to a peculiarly distressing disease which attacks the See also:jaw, and ultimately produces See also:necrosis of the jaw-See also:bone (" phossy jaw "), though with scrupulous See also:attention to See also:ventilation and cleanliness much of the See also:risk of the disease may be avoided. The most serious objections to the use of phosphorus, however, were overcome by the See also:discovery of the modified form of that See also:body known as red or amorphous phosphorus. That substance was utilized for the manufacture of the well-known " safety matches" by J.

E. Lundstrom, of See also:

Jonkoping, See also:Sweden, in 1852; its employment for this purpose had been patented eight years previously by another Swede, G. E.. Pasch, who, however, regarded it as an See also:oxide of phosphorus. Red phosphorus is in itself a perfectly innocuous substance, and no evil effects arise from freely working the compositions of which it forms an ingredient. The fact again that safety matches ignite only in exceptional circumstances on any other than the prepared surfaces which accompany the box—which surfaces and not the matches themselves contain the phosphorus required for ignition—makes them much less liable to cause accidental fires than other kinds. The processes carried out in a match factory include preparing the splints, dipping them first in molten See also:paraffin wax and then in the igniting composition, and filling the matches into boxes. All these operations are performed by complicated automatic machinery, in the development of which the See also:Diamond Match See also:Company of See also:America has taken a leading See also:part, with the minimum of See also:manual intervention. The See also:chief element in the igniting mixture of ordinary or " strike anywhere " matches used to be common yellow phosphorus, combined with one or more other bodies which readily part with See also:oxygen under the See also:influence of heat. Chief among these latter substances is chlorate of potash, others being red See also:lead, nitrate of lead, bichromate of potash and peroxide of See also:manganese. But at the beginning of the loth century many countries took steps to stop the use of yellow phosphorus owing to the danger to See also:health attending its manipulation. In Sweden, matches made with it have been prohibited for See also:home See also:consumption, but not for export, since 1901.

In 1905 and 1906 two conferences, attended by representatives of most of the governments of See also:

Europe, were held at Berne to consider the question of prohibiting yellow phosphorus, but no See also:general agreement was reached owing to the objections entertained by Sweden, See also:Norway, Spain and See also:Portugal, and also See also:Japan. See also:Germany, See also:France, See also:Italy, See also:Denmark, See also:Holland, See also:Switzerland and See also:Luxemburg, however, agreed to a See also:convention whereby yellow phosphorus was prohibited as from 1912, and to this See also:Great See also:Britain expressed her adherence after the passing of the White Matches See also:Prohibition See also:Act 1908, which forbade the manufacture and importation of such matches from the 1st of See also:January 191o; though to avoid hardship to retailers and others holding large See also:stocks it permitted their See also:sale for a See also:year longer. Phosphorous sulphide (sesquisulphide of phosphorus) is one of the sub-stances widely employed as a substitute for yellow phosphorus in matches which will strike anywhere without the need of a specially prepared surface. Safety matches contain no phosphorus in the heads; according to one See also:formula that has been published the mixture with which they are tipped consists of chlorate of potash, 32 parts; bichromate of potash, 12; red lead, 32; sulphide of antimony, 24; while the ingredients of a suitable rubbing surface are eight parts of amorphous phosphorus to nine of sulphide of antimony. There is no doubt, however, that there is considerable diversity in the composition of the mixtures actually employed. Vestas " are matches in which short pieces of thin " wax See also:taper " are used in See also:place of wooden splints. Fusees or vesuvians consist of large See also:oval heads fixed on a See also:round splint. These heads consist of a porous mixture of See also:charcoal, See also:saltpetre, cascarilla or other scented bark, glass and gum, tipped with common igniting composition. When lighted they form a glowing mass, without flame. It is calculated that in the principal See also:European countries from six to ten matches are used for each inhabitant daily, and the See also:world's See also:annual output must reach a See also:total which requires twelve or thirteen figures for its expression. In the See also:United States the manufacture is under the See also:control of the Diamond Match Company, formed in 1881; which company also has an important See also:share in the industry in Great Britain, where it has established large See also:works. Similarly the manufacture of safety matches in Sweden is largely controlled by one big See also:combination.

In France matches are a See also:

government See also:monopoly, and are both dear in See also:price and inferior in quality, as compared with other countries where the industry is See also:left to private enterprise. The See also:French government formerly leased the manufacture to a company (Societe generale See also:des allumettes chimiques), but since 18go it has been undertaken directly by the See also:state.

End of Article: MATARO (anc. Iluro)

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