218 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



and is inclined to consider ozone as a peroxide of hydrogen. He 

 explains its formation by the action of phosphorus upon steam and 

 oxygen by the transference of chemical action. The combination of 

 phosphorus with oxygen occasions a simultaneous formation of per- 

 oxide of hydrogen by the union of water and oxygen. Schonbein 

 states, as the result of some recent experiments, that ozone, produced 

 either by means of phosphorus, by galvanic decomposition of water, 

 or by frictional electricity, decomposes solutions of the salts of protoxide 

 of manganese, with separation of hydrated bin oxide. Paper mois- 

 tened with such a solution becomes brown. Under the influence of 

 solar radiation, chlorine and bromine water act in the same manner, 

 though more slowly. Chlorine and bromine water, or atmospheric 

 air impregnated with ozone, produce from basic acetate of lead brown 

 binoxide of lead. Solutions of the salts of protoxide of manganese 

 may thus be employed as sympathetic inks ; writing of this kind, 

 when exposed to the vapor of ozone, immediately becomes brown ; the 

 color disappearing, after some time will reappear when exposed again 

 to the ozone. Schonbein has also published the result of some investi- 

 gations on the presence of ozone in the atmosphere. A mixture of 

 starch-paste and iodide of potassium became gradually blue in the open 

 air ; paper moistened with sulphate of protoxide of manganese slight- 

 ly changed to brown, in the same manner as in air impregnated with 

 ozone; this does .not, however, take place in confined air. He con- 

 siders it very probable that the proportion of ozone in the atmosphere 

 stands in intimate relation to the prevalence of catarrhal affections. 



While no ozone is produced by phosphorus in moist oxygen, at 

 the ordinary temperature and density of the air, it is formed accord- 

 ing to Schonbein in oxygen rarefied, or heated above 24 ; generally 

 under those conditions under which phosphorus becomes luminous in 

 oxygen. 



In connection with his researches on ozone, Schonbein has published 

 a memoir on the various chemical conditions of oxygen. He endeav- 

 ours to establish the view, that oxygen may exist in two different 

 states, in the ordinary form, and in the state in which it is more in- 

 clined to enter into chemical combination ; the latter form he distin- 

 guishes by the terms oxylized oxygen. He mentions those compounds 

 in which he supposes the presence of oxylized oxygen, and expresses 

 some doubts regarding the supposition, that ozone is oxygen in a 

 peculiarly modified state. 



Some experiments have been described by Osann, according to 

 which no ozone was produced by the electrolysis of pure water; 

 whilst the diffusion of frictional electricity into an atmosphere of 

 hydrogen gave rise to the odor of ozone. He found that ozone-odor 

 was invariably produced, whether the frictional electricity was discharg- 

 ed either from platinum, copper, brass, or iron. He considers that these 

 experiments are equally unfavorable to the view, that ozone is an 

 oxide of either hydrogen or nitrogen, and asks whether the electrical 

 ozone-odor in reality belongs to the same substance which is obtained 

 in chemical processes. In a more recent communication he acknowl- 

 edges thp identity of php.sphprus ozone and that which is generated 



