100 
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 
attempt 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 
exposed 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, carefally filled with this charcoal, forming 
a vast pile, open to the air. After being for some days exposed 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 produce a vast 
conflagration, by communicating with the neighbouring combustible 
bodies*. 
Yours, &c. 
* Systerae des Connoissances Physiques, tom. viii. p. 229. 
