l- A K M E R S ' MISCELLANY. 113 



Water absorbs, at tlie common temperature aiitl pressure, Irgni 

 seven hundred to eisht hundred times its volume of ammoniacal 

 oas, and when boiled will not part with the whole of it. Now 

 notice the difference : charcoal absorbs ninety, and water eight 

 hundred times their volume. The superior force of the water is 

 ^een at a glance. And what must be the result ? Why, simply 

 this : If charcoal is put upon land as a manure, however much 

 «xas it may have in its pores, the first shower of rain will separate 

 it and carry it with it into the earth, ready for the use of the plants, 

 in the mean time, the water takes the place of the gas in the pores. 

 As soon as they become dry, and perhaps before, the process of 

 absorption commences again, and again it is washed out. 



This view of the case M^ould indicate the use of charcoal as a 

 top dressing to crops. And this we believe to be the correct plan. 

 Buried in the soil, it adds to its looseness, but is not exposed to 

 alternate dry and wet, as when on or near the surface. 



But its action in compost heaps, or as an absorbent of the urine 

 of man and animals, depends upon another principle. The gene- 

 ral opinion seems to be, that its use is to absorb the gases, ammo- 

 nia, &c., which are given off during decomposition of animal and 

 vegetable substances. That this is not the case will readily appear, 

 if any one will reflect a moment upon its w^ell known action on 

 animal matter. If meat which has begun to putrefy be packed 

 down in charcoal, it is not only deprived of all bad smell, t)ut the 

 process of putrefaction is immediately stopped. No more gases 

 are formed, and of course none can be absorbed. Its effect in this 

 case is to stop the process of decay. In the same manner, any 

 animal or vegetable substance, if exposed to the action of char- 

 coal may be preserved for any length of time unchanged. What 

 the power is by which this is done we do not pretend to say. 



It is not, then, by absorbing gases that it is so useful in these 

 cases, but simply through this power of preventing decay and pre- 

 serving these matters in their unchanged state. Thus, when used 

 in the compost heap, or when saturated with urine, all the sub- 

 stances it comes in contact with are brought under its influence, 

 and when applied to the soil are gradually separated from it by 

 the rains which fall upon them, and there undergo the decay which 

 fits them to become food for plants. 



Charcoal has the property also of preserving vegetable as well 



VOL. I. NO. 1. P 



