CHARCOAL BURNING. 



371 



off, and carbon remains. (Animal charcoal is obtained from calcining 

 bones). Wood charcoal attracts vapours, and water, if impure, can be 

 purified by charcoal, and any impure or tainted animal matter can be 

 rendered inoffensive by reason of charcoal absorbing the gases, while the 

 process of decay goes on just the same. 

 Housekeepers should therefore not always 

 decide that meat is good because it is not 

 offensive to the olfactory nerves. Charcoal 

 will remove the aroma, but the meat may be 

 nevertheless bad. The use of charcoal in 

 filters is acknowledged universally, and as a 

 constituent of gunpowder it is important. 



Carbon is not easily affected by the at- F ^- 3<^-charcoai burning, 



mospheric air, or in the earth; so in many instances wood is charred 

 before being driven into the ground ; and casks for water are prepared 



Fig. 368. Wood piles of charcoal burners. 



so. Soot is carbon in a pulverised condition, and Indian ink is manu- 

 factured with its assistance. 



The preparation of wood charcoal gives occupation to men who arc 

 frequently wild and untutored, but the results of their labour are very 

 beneficial. Care should be taken not to sleep in a room with a charcoal 

 stove burning, unless there is ample vent for the carbonic acid gas, for it 

 will cause suffocation. Lampblack is obtained by holding a plate over tho 

 flame of some resinous substance, which deposits the black upon it. There 

 is a special apparatus for this purpose. 



Carbon combines with oxygen to make carbonic acid gas, as we have 

 already mentioned, and in other proportions to form a more deadly com- 

 pound than the other. The former is the dioxide (CO 2 ), the latter the 



