CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 191 



Quantitative analysis has, as yet, been quite unattempted, although 

 by no means impracticable, by a method suggested by Dr. Bernays, 

 viz., an estimate of the alkali set free from the decomposed iodide of 

 potassium. In the list of disinfectants, ozone must occupy a low 

 rank, owing to the very large quantity of ozonized air which would 

 be required for the destruction of any considerable quantity of foul 

 gas which might be present. It might, however, be advantageously 

 introduced into the sick room, when there is no especial source of 

 foul air, and where the frequent introduction of fresh air from without 

 is prevented by the weather. 



In the study of the action of ozone on organic bodies, there are 

 three separate classes of phenomena for consideration : 1st. Its chem- 

 ical action on pure isolated organic substances. 2d. Its influence on 

 the animal body when inhaled. 3d. Its effect when taken into the 

 alimentary canal. 



Of course, many organic substances are perfectly indifferent to the 

 action of ozone. But there is a peculiar class which, though not 

 apparently acted on, or at all altered in constitution by it, are yet 

 capable of absorbing and retaining it in large quantities, and such 

 bodies have been called " ozone-carriers." The principal bodies of 

 this class are distilled or essential oils, especially the oil of turpentine. 

 Oil of turpentine, in fact, has so great an affinity for ozone, that 

 almost all the oil exposed for sale in shops contains it, in consequence 

 of its frequent exposure to the air. The same may be said of oil of 

 cinnamon, and many other essential oils. Oil of turpentine may 

 contain as much as fifty per cent, of its volume of ozone, and is, there- 

 fore, a very convenient medium for acting on other organic substances. 

 What change the oil itself undergoes during the process of absorption, 

 or whether, indeed, it undergoes any change at all, or receives the 

 ozone simply as an act of solution, is altogether unproved. It is 

 equally uncertain it is, indeed, a kind of corollary, from what has 

 just been said whether the oil is merely the recipient of already 

 formed ozone, or whether it has in itself the power of acting as a 

 sort of polarizing agent to the oxygen, with which it comes in contact, 

 thus generating the ozone. Next to essential oils, the best ozone- 

 carrier is ether. It is, however, more or less changed by the ozone, 

 and it is not capable of absorbing so large a proportion of it. 



In Wunerlich's Archives, for 1848, Professor Hoppe published a 

 paper, in which he details a number of experiments which he per- 

 formed on animals, principally frogs and rabbits, illustrative of the 

 effects of this ozonized turpentine when introduced into the system, 

 either by the alimentary canal or through a wound. He shows, 

 indeed, that in large doses it produces intense hyperasmia of the part 

 with which it comes in immediate contact, followed by the general 

 symptoms of irritant poisoning, and ending in general paralysis, 

 especially of the heart, and death. After perusing the details of his 

 experiments, I cannot ascertain that there are any symptoms specially 

 due to the circumstance of the oil being ozonized, except the greater 

 rapidity of its action. It simply appears to act as a more powerful 

 irritant than the unozonized oil, due, in all probability, to some slight 

 alteration in the composition of the oil itself. 



These ozone-carriers are, however, of great use in organic invest!- 



