ioo 



dug, has been already noticed. But the thick acrid smoke, and the 

 disagreeable odour which turf yields, whilst it is burning, very much 

 limits its utility ; it has, therefore, been attempted to remove these 

 inconveniences, by submitting it previously to the action of fire, ex- 

 cluding it, at the same time, as much as possible, from any commu- 

 nication with the open air ; in the same manner as in the operation 

 for the making of charcoal from wood, or coke from coal. The at- 

 tempt has succeeded in some degree ; but still the charcoal of turf is 

 very inferior to that of wood, and is, besides, liable to inflame, if ex- 

 posed to the combined action of air and water ; whence arises the 

 necessity of its conservation in magazines that are well covered in. 

 Fourcroy gives a very interesting account of a spontaneous com- 

 bustion of this substance, produced in this manner. He says, I 

 saw at Paris a timber yard, carefully filled with this charcoal, form- 

 ing a vast pile, open to the air. After being for some days ex- 

 posed to the continual action of the rain, it exhaled an abundance 

 of white smoke, which soon changed into flame, and the whole 

 charcoal became thus consumed ; threatening every instant to pro- 

 duce a vast conflagration, by communicating with the neighbour- 

 ing combustible bodies*. 



Yours, &c. 



* Systeme des Connoissances Physiques, torn. viii. p. 229, 



