Properties.—Animal Charcoal, when pure, consists, solely of Carbon, and burns away in the air without leaving any residue: it is remarkable for its property of decolorizing solutions; the organic colouring substance being separated, but not actually destroyed, as it is by Chlorine employed as a bleaching agent. This power of absorbing colouring matter is not possessed in an equal degree by all varieties of Charcoal, but is in great measure peculiar to those derived from the animal kingdom.
CHINA CLAY, OR KAOLIN.
This is prepared, by careful levigation, from mouldering granite and other disintegrated felspathic rocks. It consists of the Silicate of Alumina,—that is, of Silicic Acid or Flint, which is an Oxide of Silicon, united with the base Alumina (Oxide of Aluminum). Kaolin is perfectly insoluble in water and acids, and produces no decomposition in solution of Nitrate of Silver. It is employed by Photographers to decolorize solutions of Nitrate of Silver which have become brown from the action of Albumen or other organic matters.
Commercial Kaolin may contain chalk, in which state it produces alkalinity in solution of Nitrate of Silver. The impurity, detected by its effervescence with acids, is removed by washing the Kaolin in diluted vinegar and subsequently in water.
CHLORINE.
Symbol, Cl. Atomic weight, 36.
Chlorine is a chemical element found abundantly in nature, combined with metallic Sodium in the form of Chloride of Sodium, or Sea-salt.
Preparation.—By distilling common Salt with Sulphuric Acid, Sulphate of Soda and Hydrochloric Acid are formed. Hydrochloric Acid contains Chlorine combined with Hydrogen; by the action of nascent Oxygen (see Oxygen), the Hydrogen may be removed in the form of water, and the Chlorine left alone.
Properties.—Chlorine is a greenish-yellow gas, of a pungent and suffocating odour; soluble to a considerable extent in water, the solution possessing the odour and colour of the gas. It is nearly 2½ times as heavy as a corresponding bulk of atmospheric air.