A. Because it absorbs all odoriferous effluvia, whether they arise from putrefying animal or vegetable matter.
Q. Why is water purified by being filtered through charcoal?
A. Charcoal absorbs the impurities of the water, and removes all disagreeable tastes and smells, whether they arise from animal or vegetable matter.
Q. Why are water and wine casks charred inside?
A. Charring the inside of the cask reduces it to a kind of charcoal; and charcoal (by absorbing animal and vegetable impurities) keeps the liquor sweet and good.
Q. Why does a piece of burnt bread, steeped in impure water, make it fit to drink?
A. The surface of the bread is reduced to charcoal by being burnt; and the charcoal surface of the bread abstracts all the impurities of the water, and makes it palatable.
Q. Why should the toast and water, placed by the side of the sick, be made of burnt bread?
A. The surface of the bread being reduced to charcoal by being burnt, prevents the water from being affected by the impurities of the sick room.