78 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



is nearly allied. The ability of the eye to measure distances, with 

 such undeviating exactness, is associated with this power of finding 

 the centre of gravity. In the Chamois these are instinctive faculties, 

 which he possesses almost from the moment of his birth. They are 

 not the result of training; for the young Chamois has only V. acquire 

 the necessary strength to able him to imitate the feats of his more 

 practised companions. 



CHARCOAL. A kind of coal that is made of wood half burnt, 

 under a covering of turf and dust. The microscope discovers a sur- 

 prising number of pores in charcoal ; they are disposed in order, and 

 traverse it lengthwise. If a piece be broken pretty short, it may be 

 seen through with the microscope. In a range the eighteenth part 

 of an inch long, Dr. Hook reckoned one hundred and fifty pores. 

 Charcoal is a powerful antiseptic ; consequently it has lately become 

 a practice to char casks, or to burn charcoal in them, before filling 

 them with water for a sea-voyage ; by this means, it is said, water 

 may be kept sweet during the longest voyage. There is one property 

 of charcoal, that ought to be universally known ; it is its wonderful 

 power of consuming respirable air. Mr. Lavoisier found that one 

 pound of charcoal, in burning, actually consumed two pounds nine 

 ounces of oxygen or vital air. Hence' the extreme danger, or rather 

 almost inevitable death of persons sleeping in a close room with burn- 

 ing charcoal by the bed-side. 



Charcoal is insoluble in water, destroys the odor, color, and taste of 

 many substances ; and hence, its use in the arts and in the purifica- 

 tion of tainted meats and putrified waters. It also separates from 

 water any decayed animal matters or coloring substances which it 

 may hold in solution. Hence, its use in filters for purifying arid sweet- 

 ening impure river qr spring waters, or for clarifying syrups and oils. 

 In or upon the soil, charcoal, for a time, will act in the same manner, 

 will absorb from the air moisture and gaseous substances, and from 

 the rain and flowing waters, organized matters of various kinds, any 

 of which it will be in a condition to yield to the plants that grow 

 around it, when they are such as are likely to contribute to their growth. 

 Charcoal has the property also of absorbing disagreeable odors, in 

 a remarkable manner. Hence, animal food keeps longer sweet when 

 placed in contact with it ; hence, also, vegetable substances, contain- 

 ing much water, such as potatoes, are more completely preserved by 

 the aid of a quantity of charcoal. It exhibits, also, the still more singular 

 property of extracting from water a portion of the saline substances it 

 may happen to hold in solution, and thus allowing it to escape in a 

 less impure form. The decayed, half carbonized roots of grass, which 

 have been subjected to irrigation, may act in one or all these ways, 

 on the more or less impure water by which they are irrigated ; and 

 thus gradually arrest and collect the materials which are fitted to 

 promote the growth of the corryng crop. 



