posted January 08, 2000 08:22 PM            

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"To Obtain Phosphorus: Ground bone-ash, 12 parts; water, 24 parts; mix to a pap in a large tub, and add in a slender stream (still stirring) sulfuric acid, 8 parts; work well together, adding more water if required; in 24 hours thin with water, agitate well , and, if convenient, heat the mixture in a leaden pan, and as soon as the paste has lost its granular charracter, transfer it into a series of tall casks; largely dilute with water; and, after settling, decant the clear portion; wash the residue well with water, mix the clear liquids, and evaporate in a copper or lead pan, till the calcarious deposit (gypsum) becomes considerable, then cool, decant the clear, and drain the sediment on a filter; evaporate the clear liquid to the consistence of honey (say to 4 parts), add I part of powdered charcoal, and evaporate to dryness in an iron pan or till the bottom of the latter becomes red hot; the dry mixture, when cold, is put into earthen retorts well covered with luting and property dried, and heat is applied sideways rather than at the bottom, by means of an air furnace. The beak of the retort is connected with a copper tube, the other end of which is made to dip about 1/4 inch beneath the surface of lukewarm water placed in a trough or wide-mouthed bottle. The distilled product is purified by squeezing it through chamois leather under warm water, and is then moulded for sale by melting it under water heated to about 145 F, plunging the wider end of a slightly tapering but straight glass tube. into the water, sucking this up to the top of the glass, so as to warm and wet it, next immersing the end into the liquid phosphorus, and sucking it up to any desired height. The bottom of the tube is now closed with the finger, it is withdrawn, and transferred to a pan of cold water to congeal the phosphorus, which will then commonly fall out, or may be easily be expelled by pressure with a piece of wire. Keep it in places where neither light nor heat has access, in phials filled with cold water which has been boiled to expel all air, and enclose the phials in opaque cases."

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The reason for all the washing and purifying was because this book was writting at a time when people could be living hundreds of miles away from the nearest town, let alone city. So they had to be able to work with materials they could get. Like dead animal bones. Nowadays you could just buy a big sack of calcium triphospate and use that.

Thsi was originally posted on The Hive at http://hive.lycaeum.org/ubb_board/Forum2/HTML/001254.html .

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