Note 6 — SECTION I. Of Gunpowder.
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The name given by chemists to the pure part of charcoal. It is said to be present in almost all combustible bodies, and is of itself entirely of that nature. When charcoal is burnt, its carbon unites with the oxygen of the air, and so much heat as to give it a gaseous form, and constitutes carbonic acid gas, or fixed air. The same gas is also obtained by the combustion of the diamond, proving that this precious and costly article is carbon or charcoal, in a very indurated state, and assuming a determinate form. It was not till lately that the diamond was proved to be combustible; but by means of the blow-pipe, and a stream of oxygen gas, it may be, to speak in common language, wholly consumed. The air that is extricated during the combustion, is carbonic acid gas, proving the diamond to have been chiefly, if not wholly, composed of carbon.
Long before this fact respecting the diamond was ascertained, Sir Isaac Newton, reasoning from its great refracting power, declared it to be his opinion, that it was one of the most combustible of bodies. Modern discoveries have now proved the fact; and it affords us an admirable instance of the acumen of that great Philosopher.
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