Remarks upon Fused Charcoal. 
, the fused carbon ‘in pure oxigen gas, by means 
of the solar focus, and obtained a decided product of car- 
bonic acid, it will probably not be thought extraordinary if 
IT regard Mr. Vanuxem’s couclusion as premature. and not 
fully justified, even by his own statement, in regard to the 
particular specimen which he examined. 
It is very possible that some of the globules obtained in 
my experiments, may have consisted in part of foreign mat- 
ter, although the proportion of such matter in charcoal pre- 
pared in the manner in which mine was, is extremely small; 
and it will be recollected that Messrs. Allen and Pepys, in 
their famous experiments on the combustion of carbon, con- 
sidered such charcoal, as so nearly pure, that little or no al- 
lowance was necessary to be made for any foreign matter in 
estimating the quantity of oxygen, requisite for the com- 
bustion, and the quantity of carbonic acid actually pro- 
duced. In my experiments on the fusion of charcoal, 
nearly the whole of that part of it, which was exposed to 
the action of the voltaic current, was rapidly converted, 
into melted matter, and there was so little waste of the 
charcoal! point, that it was impossible to doubt, (nor have 
I now the smallest doubt,) that the carbon underwent a true 
fusion. : ) 
I will not now advert to the many novel and interesting 
phenomena, (at least as they appeared to me,) which at- 
tended these experiments; but it would be very easy to 
state many circumstances, which are entirely irreconcilea- 
ble with the supposition that there was no fusion of any 
thing except foreign matter. 
As I have been unexpectedly called upon to make these 
remarks, I must be allowed to add, that at the time my ex- 
periments were performed, and the reports of them drawn 
up, my health was so rapidly declining, that it was with 
the utmost difficulty | finished my experiments, by opera- 
ting, (at last) only for a few minutes, at a time, and by em- 
ploying others, to put upon paper what f had observed. 
My labour was at last left unfinished, and many things 
omitted which I intended to perform. I have never been 
able to enter the laboratory since, for the purpose of re- 
suming these or any other labours. This is the sole rea- 
son, why I have not prosecuted the subject, and investiga- 
ted the numerous branches of enquiry, which were sug- 
