coal not only
absorbs effluvia and gaseous bodies, but especially, when in contact
with atmospheric air, oxidize, and destroys many of the easily
alterable ones, by resolving them into the simplest combinations they
are capable of forming, which are chiefly water and carbonic acid. It
is on this oxidizing property of charcoal, as well as on its absorbent
power, that its efficacy as a deodorizing and disinfecting agent
chiefly depends.

1775. Charcoal as an Antiseptic.

Charcoal is an antiseptic, that is to say, a substance which arrests
the decay and decomposition of animal substances. Meat, poultry, game
or fish, &c., may be preserved for a longer period in hot weather by
sprinkling it with powdered charcoal, which should be washed off in
clean cold water before the article is cooked.

1776. Charcoal Respirators.

It has been proposed to employ charcoal ventilators, consisting of a
thin layer of charcoal enclosed between two thin sheets of wire gauze,
to purify the foul air which is apt to accumulate in water-closets, in
the close wards of hospitals, and in the impure atmospheres of many of
the back courts and mews-lanes of large cities, all the impurities
being absorbed and retained by the charcoal, while a current of pure
air alone is admitted into the neighbouring apartments. In this way
pure air may be obtained from exceedingly impure sources. The proper
amount of air required by houses in such situations might be admitted
through sheets of wire gauze or coarse canvas, containing a thin layer
of coarse charcoal powder.

A tolerably thick charcoal ventilator, as described above, could be
very advantageously applied to the gully-holes of common sewers, and
to the sinks in private dwellings, the foul water in both cases being
carried into the drain by means of tolerably wide syphon pipes,
retaining always about a couple of inches of water. Such an
arrangement would effectually prevent the escape of any effluvia,
would be easy of construction, and not likely to get soon out of
order.

In respirators for the mouth the air is made to pass through a quarter
of an inch of coarsely powdered charcoal, retained in its place by two
sheets of silvered wire gauze, covered over with thin woollen cloth,
by which means its temperature is greatly increased. The charcoal
respirator possesses a decided advantage over respirators of the
ordinary const