QUALITIES. It is a black, inodorous, insipid, brittle substance; when
newly prepared it possesses the property of absorbing very considerable
quantities of the different gases; it is also capable of destroying the
smell and taste of a variety of vegetable and animal substances,
especially of mucilages, oils, and of matter in which _extractive_
abounds; and some medicines are said to be even deprived of their
characteristic odour by remaining in contact with it, as Valerian,
Galbanum, Balsam of Peru, and Musk. The use of charring the interior of
water casks, and of wrapping charcoal in cloths that have acquired a bad
smell, depends upon this property; for the same reason it furnishes a
very excellent tooth powder,[448] for which purpose, that which is
obtained from the shell of the cocoa nut is to be preferred. None of the
fluid menstrua with which we are acquainted have any action whatever as
solvents upon carbon.[449] MEDICINAL USES. It is antiseptic, and has
been administered internally, to correct the putrid eructations which
sometimes attend dyspepsia, but in order to produce this effect it
should be newly prepared, or such as has been preserved from the access
of air, for it operates by absorbing the putrid gas, as well as by
checking the decomposition of the undigested element.[450] DOSE, grs. x
to ʒj. It has been lately asserted to possess powers as an antidote to
arsenic; if this be true, its action can only be mechanical by absorbing
like a sponge the arsenical solution, and thereby defending the coats of
the stomach from its virulence.[451] Charcoal, when mixed with boiled
bread, forms a very valuable poultice for foul and gangrenous sores. In
a state of impalpable powder, it is said to be effectual as a styptic;
Dr. Odier informs us that the celebrated _powder of Faynard_, for
stopping hemorrhage, was nothing more than the charcoal of beech-wood
finely powdered.
Charcoal is prepared for the purposes of medicine and the arts, from a
variety of substances, viz.
BURNT SPONGE. _Spongia Usta._ L. Consists of charcoal with portions of
phosphate and carbonate of lime, and sub-carbonate of soda; it has been
highly commended in bronchocele and scrophulous complaints, in the form
of an electuary, or in that of a lozenge, and it has been lately
asserted that it owes its power to the presence of Iodine.
VEGETABLE ÆTHIOPS. _Pulvis Quercus marinæ._ From the _fucus
vesiculosus_, or bladder-wrack, used as the preceding.
IVORY BLACK. _Ebur Ustum._ From ivory shavings burned; used as a
dentifrice and a pigment, under the name of “_blue-black_,” for its hue
is bluish; but bone-black is usually sold for it.
LAMP BLACK. _Fuligo Lampadum._ By burning resinous bodies, as the refuse
of pitch, in furnaces of a peculiar construction.
WOOD SOOT. _Fuligo ligni_, collected from chimnies under which wood is
burnt. It contains sulphate of ammonia, which imparts to it its
characteristic bitterness. It has been considered antispasmodic, and a
tincture was formerly prepared of it.