Scientific amusements . d. The forms assumed bycarbon are very variable, and pervade nature in all itsphases. We have carbon in crystals, in the animal andvegetable kingdoms, and amongst the chief minerals a solid,odourless, tasteless, infusible, and almost insoluble various combinations carbon meets us at every turn ;united with oxygen it forms carbonic acid, which weexhale for the plants to imbibe. We have it in coal, CARBON. 97 with hydrogen and oxygen. We have it building upanimal tissues, and it is never absent in two out of thethree great divisions of nature — the plants and the
Scientific amusements . d. The forms assumed bycarbon are very variable, and pervade nature in all itsphases. We have carbon in crystals, in the animal andvegetable kingdoms, and amongst the chief minerals a solid,odourless, tasteless, infusible, and almost insoluble various combinations carbon meets us at every turn ;united with oxygen it forms carbonic acid, which weexhale for the plants to imbibe. We have it in coal, CARBON. 97 with hydrogen and oxygen. We have it building upanimal tissues, and it is never absent in two out of thethree great divisions of nature — the plants and the animals(Symbol C ; Atomic W. 12). We have carbon in three different and well-known con-ditions ; as the diamond, as graphite, or black-lead, andas charcoal. The properties of the diamond are wellknown, and we shall, when we get to Crystallography,learn the forms of diamond or crystals of carbon. At pre-sent we give an illustration or two, reserving-all explana-tion for the Diamond cutting is a matter of some. Facets of a rose diamond. difficulty, and it requires, skill to cut in the proper are found in India, Brazil, and at the Cape ofGood Hope, in alluvial soil. The identity of diamond andchar(!oal was discovered accidentally. An experiment tofuse at few small diamonds resulted in their disappearance,and when the residue was examined it was found that thediamonds had been burned, that they had combined withoxygen and formed carbonic acid, just as when coal diamond is the hardest of all substances, the mostvaluable of gems, and the purest condition in which carbonappears. 9- CHEMISTRY. black-lead, and isIt crystallizes andIn Cumberland it is Graphite (Plumbago) is termedthe next purest form of carbon,belongs to the primitive formations,dug up and used to make pencils; the operations can beseen at Keswick. It has other uses of a domestic character. Charcoal is the third form of carbon, and as it possessesno definite form, is said to be am
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