154 CHYMISTRY APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE. 



cured ; and in the third place, there is obtained a great 

 quantity of pyroligneous acid, which may be sold for 

 $ 1.80 or $ 2.16 per French hogshead, and which, when 

 purified and rendered clear, may supply the place of vinegar 

 for many purposes. 



In addition to its very extensive usefulness in our work- 

 shops and for domestic fires, charcoal possesses the prop- 

 erty of destroying disagreeable smells, and of preventing 

 or retarding putrefaction ; it is likewise useful in clarify- 

 ing water, which, by being filtrated through it, loses the 

 bad odor, which it in some instances possesses. When 

 the inside of a cask is charred according to the plan of 

 M. Berthollet, water may remain in it a long time unal- 

 tered, and without acquiring any bad taste. I do not 

 doubt that the same good effect would be produced upon 

 wine, which often acquires from the cask so disagreeable 

 a taste as not to be drinkable. 



An analysis of oak wood, and one of beech also, gave to 

 Messrs. Gay-Lussac and Thenard the following results. 

 100 parts of oak wood. 



Carbon 52.53 



Oxygen 41.78 



Hydrogen .... 5.69 

 100 parts of beech wood, 



Carbon 51.45 



Oxygen ..... 42.73 

 Hydrogen .... 5.82 



ARTICLE Vni. 



Gluten and Albumen. 



Gluten and albumen are substances, which, although 

 found in the vegetable kingdom, have all the properties of 

 animal matter ; they yield an abundance of ammonia by 

 distillation or putrefaction. 



Gluten and albumen, although possessing some common 

 properties, cannot be considered as the same, as there is 

 an essential difference between them. 



Albumen is an insipid fluid soluble in cold water, from 

 which it may be precipitated by alcohol, the acids, or tan- 



