62 BURNING OR OXIDATION 



Carbon plays an important and varied role in our life, and 

 in some one of its many forms, enters into the composition of 

 most of the substances which are of service and value to us. 

 The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the wood and coal we 

 burn, the marble we employ in building, the indispensable 

 soap, and the ornamental diamond, all contain carbon in some 

 form. 



Charcoal. One of the most valuable forms of carbon 

 is charcoal; valuable not in the sense that it costs hundreds 

 of dollars, but in the more vital sense, that its use adds to 

 the cleanliness, comfort, and health of man. 



The foul, bad-smelling gases which arise from sewers can 

 be prevented from escaping and passing to streets and build- 

 ings by placing charcoal filters at the sewer exits. Charcoal 

 is porous and absorbs foul gases, and keeps the region sur- 

 rounding sewers sweet and clean and free of odor. Good 

 housekeepers drop small bits of charcoal into vases of flowers to 

 prevent discoloration of the water and the odor of decaying stems, 



If impure water filters through charcoal, it emerges pure, 

 having left its impurities in the pores of the charcoal. Many 

 household filters of drinking water are made of charcoal. But 

 such a device may be a source of disease instead of a prevention 

 of it, unless the filter is regularly cleaned or renewed. 



Commercially, charcoal is used on a large scale in the refin- 

 ing of sugars, sirups, and oils. Sugar, whether it comes from 

 the maple tree, or the sugar cane, cr the beet, is dark in color. 

 It may be whitened by passage through filters of finely pulver- 

 ized charcoal. Cider and vinegar may likewise be cleared by 

 passage through charcoal. 



The value of charcoal as a purifier is very great, whether we 

 consider it a deodorizer, as in the case of the sewage, or a de- 

 colorizer, as in the case of the refineries, or as an agent in purify- 

 ing drinking water. 





