538 
PEAT CHARCOAL. 
on trays, and placed in the different parts of the chamber, which 
in a very short time (to use the words of the lady) became as pure 
as her drawing room ; and though the patient became worse and 
died, she was able to sit by his bedside while he lived, without 
experiencing the slightest inconvenience ; and even after his death, 
the atmosphere of his chamber was completely clear of the least 
offensive smell.” 
But let me describe to you an operation performed at Windsor, 
in a house within five hundred yards of where the royal standard 
of England flies. During the prevalence of cholera there, and when 
the Queen was expected, I was requested by the Board of Health 
of Windsor to examine a house, whose inhabitants complained they 
could not continue to live in it unless a cesspool at the back was 
removed. This could not then be done. The smell was so in- 
tolerable, that the windows could not be closed for a few hours ; if 
they were, the tenants were compelled to seek fresh air by opening 
the doors, even during the night. I examined the house, &c., and 
found that ammoniacal sulphuretted hydrogen rose by capillary 
attraction through the walls, and into the room. The plate, and 
even the painting of the closet doors, were blackened by its action. 
I placed a lining of three brads, six inches from the wall, and then 
filled in between granulated peat charcoal, and in less than half an 
hour the room was completely deodorized — so much so, that a child 
about eighteen months old, who previously, its mother told me, 
would never endure the room for a minute, remained in it without 
any complaint. 
* * * * 
Mr. Rogers. — If you wish to deodorize “ stagnant pools” or 
sewers, simply strew half-an-inch of the prepared charcoal over the 
surface. So long as it prevents contact with the atmosphere, no 
ill effects can take place. Every grain of the charcoal takes up 
ninety times its own volume of the offensive gases. 
* * * * 
Mr. W. White stated that he was a practical chemist, and had 
examined the charcoal produced from the turf of England, Ireland, 
and Scotland. He found in that from Ireland eighty-seven per 
cent, of pure carbon, and but about two per cent, of silica. In the 
peat charcoal of England he had found a great deal less carbon, and 
a great deal more silica ; but he could not certainly agree with Mr. 
Rogers as to the value of the manure to the extent stated. There 
could be no doubt it was a valuable manure, but he thought it 
wanted more phosphates. He ascribed the difference of the turf 
of the different countries to the soil from which it sprung, and 
therefore thought there would be a great difference in different 
bogs. 
