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.