Amphibious Match

Science has at last produced a waterproof match which lights when wet. For a year and a half, it has been a military secret. Last week military censors let the light shine forth.

Most modern friction matches are made of sesquisulfide of phosphorus, which resists high humidity but goes to pieces in water. When U.S. troops went to the soaking Pacific tropics, the Quartermaster General appealed to manufacturers to produce a match that would survive amphibious landings and tropical rains.

Chemist Raymond Davis Cady, of Diamond Match Co., finally found the answer. It looks like an ordinary kitchen match, but it is coated with a chemical (formula: still secret) which sheds water. Diamond is now producing 10,000,000 a day and G.I.s in water-filled foxholes have found them a godsend. Even after an eight-hour soaking, the match lights readily.

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