If you find yourself with a bunch of safety matches but no red-phosphorus strips upon which to strike them, remember your Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and don’t panic: mainly because you can ...

MR. TOMLINSON'S remarks on safety-matches in NATURE, vol. xiii., p. 469, reminded me that, not long ago I accidentally kindled one of those matches by rubbing it on the edge of a Wedgwood-ware mortar.

Here's a piece of knowledge you should commit to memory, because when you need to know it you may be in no position to Google it. At some point you may find yourself in the great outdoors, possibly in ...

THE fact has been known during some years past that the so-called safety matches, which are warranted to ignite “only on the box,” can be fired by being rubbed on glass, and as Mr. Preece recently ...

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in ...