“That the Athenians made use of the bellows and of charcoal is not improbable; the latter, indeed, may be fairly inferred from the account of the charcoal-sellers, or rather charcoal-burners, from which business a large portion of the Acharnians in particular obtained their livelihood.” Dissertation on the Mines of Laurion. Pub. Econ., &c. t. ii. p. 443. Footnote 985: Theoph. Hist. Plant. v. 9. 1, sqq. ----- This leads us to speak of the preparation of charcoal, which was effected in the following manner:—having excavated a circular cavity in the earth, they pitched or paved it at bottom, and piling up to a great height the billets of wood, which were selected for their straightness in order that they might lie as close as possible, covered over the whole with earth and turf, so as to form a circular mound, like a barrow. The heap was then set on fire, and the covering pierced on all sides with spits, to provide a vent for the smoke. The fire having been kept burning for the proper time, which is not stated, the charcoal was removed and laid by for use.[986] Extensive works of this kind were established at the borough of Acharnè, in Attica, which was supplied with wood, chiefly the scarlet oak, from the forests on Mount Parnes.[987] ----- Footnote 986: Id. v. 9. 5. ix. 3. 1. Footnote 987: Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 302, 587. Diog. Laert. i. 8. 5. ----- Much stress was laid by Hellenic artificers on the materials from which the charcoal was manufactured: thus smiths, braziers, and other handicraftsmen preferred that of the pitch-pine to what was made from the oak, because it exhibited a greater tractability to the bellows, keeping up a more enduring flame, and being less liable to sudden extinction, though inferior in force. Generally, in fact, all dry woods furnish a brisker and a brighter flame. Twigs and small branches, as the Greek philosophers had observed, yield, while burning, the fiercest heat; but it was supposed that they were too deficient in body to be profitably converted into charcoal. In France, however, and other parts of the Continent, we find twigs no bigger than goose-quills used for this purpose. Some kinds of wood, it was observed, produce in burning a far greater quantity of smoke than others.[988] Of these are all such as delight in humid situations, as the platane and the willow, with the black and white poplar. The vine,[989] too, while moist, stands in the same category, though it yield the palm to the date-palm, which enjoyed among the ancients the reputation of being the smokiest tree that grows.[990] In sharpness, however, the smoke of the fig-tree was supposed to excel, together with that of the wild fig-tree,[991] and generally all such natives of the forest as abound in a milky juice. Nevertheless, having been barked, steeped in running-water, and dried again,[992] these same kinds of wood were freer than all others from