K.Esquivel-LWFC

he could scientifically prove all the miracle
cures Morning Light had
accomplished.
Tita loved to watch him work. With him there
were always things to
learn and discover, like now, when he was
making matches and conducting
a class on phosphorus and its properties at
the same time.
"Phosphorus was discovered in 1669, by
lBrandt, a Hamburg chemist who
was looking for the philosophers' stone. He
believed that metal could
be transmuted into gold by mixing it with
extract of urine.
Using this method, he obtained a luminous
substance that burned with an
intensity such as had never been seen
before. For a long time
phosphorus was obtained by vigorously
heating the residue from
evaporating urine in an earth retort the neck
of which was submerged in
water. Today it is extracted from the bones
of animals, which contain
phosphoric acid and lime."
Talking didn't make the doctor careless in his
preparation of the
matches. He had no trouble separating
mental and physical
activities.
He could philosophize about even the most
profound aspects of life
without his hands pausing or making a
mistake. While he was talking to
Tita, he kept on making matches.
"Now that we have the phosphorus mixture,
the next step is to prepare
the cardboard for the matches. Dissolve a
pound of potassium nitrate
in a pound of water, stir in a little saffron to
add color, and dip the
cardboard in this solution. When it dries, cut
the cardboard into
narrow strips and place a little of the
phosphorus mixture on the end
of each strip. Allow the matches to dry,
buried in sand."
While the strips were drying, the doctor
showed Tita an experiment.
"While phosphorus doesn't combine with
oxygen to burn at ordinary
temperatures, it does burst into flame very
rapidly at an elevated
temperature; watch .
The doctor placed a small amount of
phosphorus in a tube that was
closed at one end and full of mercury. He
melted the phosphorus by
holding the tube over the flame of a candle.
Then, using a small bell
jar containing oxygen, he transferred the gas
to the jar very, very
slowly. When the oxygen reached the top of
the jar, where it
encountered the melted phosphorus, an
explosion occurred, brilliant,
instantaneous, like a flash of lightning.
"As you see, within our bodies each of us
has the elements needed to
produce phosphorus. And let me tell you
something I've never told a
soul. My grandmother had a very interesting
theory; she said that each
of us is born with a box of matches inside
usbeen seen before. For a
long time phosphorus was obtained by
vigorously heating the residue
from evaporating urine in an earth retort the
neck of which was
submerged in water. Today it is extracted
from the bones of animals,
which contain phosphoric acid and lime."