Abstract
AN addition of a novel character to the museums of Great Britain has been made recently in the form of one devoted entirely to fire-making appliances. Fire making is of vital human interest, and here we see the many methods that have been used in past ages and in different climes. Messrs. Bryant and May's collection at their Fairfield Works, Bow, in the main is that formed by Mr. Edward Bidwell during a period of half a century. Perhaps this should have become a national possession, but within the last year it passed into the keeping of the firm, who have housed it admirably. Considerable additions have been made, and it includes every known method of fire making. It is, indeed, so comprehensive that it is difficult to conceive that it can ever be rivalled. The objects are classified under tinder; wood-friction methods; flint-andpyrites methods; flint-and-steel methods; quartzite-and-iron methods; optical methods; compression methods; chemical methods; and finally the friction match. Of the exhibits, about half represent the flint-and-steel and friction-match methods. The museum is not open to the public indiscriminately, but is accessible to the student, societies, etc., without charge, during week-day afternoons or Saturday mornings, on application to the firm.
The Bryant and May Museum of Fire-Making Appliances: Catalogue of the Exhibits.
Compiled, with an Introduction and Notes, by Miller Christy. Pp. viii + 192 + 33 plates. (London: Bryant and May, Ltd.; Simpkin, Marshall and Co., Ltd., 1926.) 5s. net.
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The Bryant and May Museum of Fire-Making Appliances: Catalogue of the Exhibits . Nature 119, 777 (1927). https://doi.org/10.1038/119777b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/119777b0